Journey through the Stars
by Hamfast Gamgee
Summary: A re-write of the Prequals.  At least the first two.  I think it needed to be done.  And no Gungans anyone reading might be relieved to hear!  Please Read and Review
1. Many meetings

Introduction

Disclaimer: I didn't create this Galaxy, George Lucas did, I thank him for that and for the Star Wars films, though not so much the prequeals and the endless Clone Wars cartoons!

AU. This is my re-write of the first two of the Prequeals. This is an almost total re-write so foget anything you knew about the first two films. Although some of the characters have the same characteristics, I have put them in a totally different situation and the Galactic situation is different. Rather than having an all-powerful Republic, it's powers are very limited in the Wild Western Rim of the Galaxy were due to War and misguided policies it is wild and chaotic. And as I say, no Gungans! And I don't think Threepio does much, though R2 is in it! Please read and review, thanks Ham

This is something which I belive fanfiction was invented for. I liked the original Star Wars series but like many was disappointed with the prequeals or at least with the first two. So this is my attempt to rewrite them and to perhaps make them a bit more like the original trilogy. I would be particularly interested in the opinions of those that are of the same mind about Star Wars in comparing this tale with the prequeals, would think.

Some more information as I have been told this is a little confusing. Jack Sandcleaver lives on Tatooine. He is a decent enough chap, a skilled Farmer's son and good with computers and programing. Only thing is he like most on Tatooine is a little cut of from the rest of the galaxy. So he really knows very little about the rest of the Galaxy and doesn't think it will ever bother him, despite his mother occasionally telling him that he should journey, he will find the Galaxy good for him.

All right, Jack probably should know more, but he doesn't. Neither does he really think the Galaxy will call him at all. Until one day...

Journey through the Stars

The planet was a desert world consisting totally all right maybe mostly of sand. And was famed for it! It was called Tatooine. Within this planet there was a town. A village. In this village there also was a little market. The village was called Aldenham. In this market, a young dark-haired man dropped down from the sky on a flying chopper.

The chopper was a tripod-bike, very big, indeed the young man was smaller than its three plastic covered wheels. The man was wearing light green leather that fitted him well. The man parked his chopper-bike that he was very proud of climbed of and went of to do a boring but necessary task.

The man was called Jack, Jack Sandcleaver. With a smile he negotiated the sliding doors that opened with an electronic sizz and Jack proceeded inside the large, plastic, airy building and bought his weekly shopping. But shopping can be tiring work and a nice little cafe was open next to the market. 'So, how about a nice coffee to refresh myself!' Jack thought and sat down into a nice comfortable seat. The cafe was small next to the small market and Jack thirstily supped upon the drink. Oddly enough, the only ingredient that was missing was water itself. Tatooine been a desert world was very short on water in fact it was one of the rarest substances on the planet and therefore expensive due to that fact. The drink had a water substitute a liquid from a common desert herb in fact. This didn't distract from the enjoyment of the drink.

Jack was thinking things nice and relaxing when he saw an exciting sight. The Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn had entered the cafe. When he was younger Qui-Gon Jinn had been a friend of his mothers she had introduced him to the Jedi and he'd regularly been to exotic parties where Qui-Gon had put on some spectacular shows to entertain the guests. 'Qui-Gon!' Well, this is a pleasant surprise. You're a man I haven't seen for quite some time. Always a tale to tell you have of places far away and sometimes long ago.' Jedis could be like that. Good people with almost magic like powers from the capital of the Republic on Coruscant.

Qui-Gon replied by giving Jack a long, slow and thoughtful look. Qui-Gon was wearing a comfortable of unstylish brown trousers and tonic and large, black stirrup-like not that they were as clumsy as stirrups, boots. He had long, grey brown hair, brown eyes and a small, grey beard. After a little while he replied. 'Jack isn't it? yes, I remember you. An inquisitive young lad I always thought. With a bright smile. I won't mention those glasses! Well, I was just passing this planet with my apprentice and I thought I'd pop by here to get a take-out. I was in a hurry but as you are there... I could join you for a Coffee. You might just hear something to your advantage.'

Jack and Qui-Gon looked at each other. This was quite a significant moment. Later on, Jack often wished he replied, 'Sorry Qui-Gon, I'm a bit busy at the moment, I'll see you later, was there anything else?' But in fact Jack said, 'Fine, take a seat, nice to chat to you again!' and with a smile easily moved the chair which he sat upon opposite Jack.

'Another dull day again, then Jack?' Before he had a chance to think, 'Why does Qui-Gon think I have had a dull day?' Jack answered, 'You're telling me! But farmwork is like that. Planting, prunning, scraping, wiping, dusting! Mind, re-figureating the computer system was of moderate interest. Not that I haven't done that before. Why don't you come over and see?'

'Now that's a good idea are you free Tuesday?' Jack gave a curt nod. But, curious as it was, come that Tuesday, Jack had clean forgotten about it. He had spend the entire morning dusting his herbs and had sat down in his homestead for a quick lunch and wondering if he should have a glass of beer to go with his lunch as both his parents were away it might be a good time. Though the weather was it's usual dry and hot and there wasn't a great deal to see from his windows. But the farm which he worked was large, many miles in size, actually!

Just then there was a buzz from his door buzzer and he remembered about Qui-Gon. But as it happened it wasn't he. It was a young man, not much older than Jack himself but similar to Qui-Gon in terms of dress and pose .He folded is arms and bowed to Jack. 'Kenobi. Obi-wan Kenobi at your service.' The man introduced himself as.

'Oh, can I help?' Jack replied ringing his hands.

'Yes, I do believe that Qui-Gon is due to be arriving here. He told me to meet him here, Jack isn't it?' Obi-wan explained. 'Oh, coffee would be nice, ah decaffeinated, nothing but the best here!' Obi-Wan smiled with only a hint of sarcasm. Jack had just sat down again when the buzzer went of again. To Jack's relief this was Qui-Gon. But Qui-Gon was accompanied by two odd looking creatures. Small, bearded one old and one younger with blackskin. Dwarves!

From a rocky planet whose name escaped Jack for the moment. 'Greetings!' said Qui-Gon. 'Meet a couple of friends of mine, Dwalin and Fili!' said he introducing his companions. The two Dwarves bowed to Jack. Dwarves could be tricky creatures sometimes, but these two seemed friendly and bowed lowely very politely to Jack so Jack was pleased by their politeness.

'Obviously a party rather than just one!' Jack commented but Qui-Gon laughed. As all were sitting down enjoying refreshments at Jack's table Jack asked, 'So are you all on this planet long? There is lots to see here,' he said to some rather disbelieving and sceptical faces. 'What does this planet have to offer?' Jack thought to himself, 'Well, sand, more sand and er... sand!' he finished rather lamely.

'Sadly, we are not on this charming world for long. We will be shortly of an a very dangerous journey on the far western rim of the Galaxy!' Obi-Wan replied.

'Now that is dangerous. What in all of the Stars of the Galaxy are you doing there?' Jack, had heard of life in the more remote western areas of the Galaxy. Jack had heard of exploding stars, armies of emotionless killer clones, ships of pirates, terrifying monsters that prayed on innocent travellers. Most nonsense of course and nothing that he ever thought would trouble his comfortable life on Tatooine.

'Jack, we desire to restore the old Planet of the Dwarves to them. A quite tricky and very dangerous task. Years ago, the powerful planet of the Dwarves was attacked by something. No-one knows what. A large space ship that struck suddenly and filled the surface with fire. The Dwarves that survived were forced to flee, leaving great Treasure behind. Gold and silver that could be used,' Explained Qui-Gon.

Jack was then astonished to hear yet another buzz on his doorbell. This time the strangest sight appeared. A creature smaller than a man but stocky with Grey, bald skin, scales on the back, strong sharp pointy teeth with a fat tongue and large snout. He, it was a he, was wearing black leathers.

Now, some at this sight might well have said, 'Why is a small Dragon standing at my doorstep?' but of course Jack was far too well-mannered and seasoned for this. Strange looking creatures often appeared on Tatooine and it was none the worse for it. So Jack simply nodded at the creature. Knowing what type it was, he asked, What does a Ruoqick want here!'

'The names Sanoqzikmo-ra,' said the Ruoqick. 'But you can call me Sam, most do!' he smiled much to Jack's relief who was wondering how to pronounce the name with a human tongue! 'All here, excellent,' said he and proved himself adapt at drinking Jack's coffee and making a bit of a mess with it over his tongue and his lips as some hot liquid dropped down and he licked it up. Although Jack had to admit that the Ruoqick was an odd creature and some messy liquid did occasionally drop from his teeth which he licked up.

'Now, then, the first stop will be Dantooine!' said Qui-Gon.

'Ah, yes, your journey,' said Jack after the interruption. 'So, how do so few of you intend to perform such a task, and why hasn't anyone else done it?'

'Good question!' said Qui-Gon, 'And we are a little vague on the details. We don't know for sure if a threat is there. We will have plenty of time to figure this out on our way. It is many light-years to this planet after all, and it will take several weeks to get there as we will have to be careful on the journey. We don't really know what we'll find on the Dwarves planet, but we do know that few others have been able to enter it and escape with their lives intact, never mind much else.'

Jack was thinking that Qui-Gon was been deliberately vague with him. Perhaps Qui-Gon didn't trust him? Fili continued, 'But we do believe that some treasure is still there. And it is about time our people found vengeance. Qui-Gon says that he has something that could help us!'

'Yes, a key,' Qui-Gon declared pulling out a rather small, metallic, key from about his person. When everyone looked at him a little skeptically, he explained, 'A key to Erebor. To one of the mountain-sides in fact were some of your treasure is rumoured to dwell. Not easy to get I can assure you. But it might help us look around a bit once we get there.'

'How did you get hold of that?' asked Fili in surprise.

'From Bushey as it happens. A major world near to Erebor as you know. I was given directions personally by it's Governor, Palpatine!'

'Who?' asked Jack a little confused.

'Ah, that's Governor Palpatine of Bushey. One of the few civilized world in the West. A powerful Governor, but he does have his odd moments.' Sam sniffed in explanation. Well, Palpatine could be a little emotional at times and some thought he didn't always think matters through. Such as his expulsion of a few Dwarves on his world and forcing them back to the inner rim. A bit unforgiving of him and made the West a bit wilder by result. Plus there was that expenses scandal. But one supposes that was an internal affair and soon forgotten,'

'He's not popular at the moment is he?' asked Fili.

'Maybe he isn't. But then I wonder know in such detail, I don't really do politics!' sighed Sam.

'Dantooine!,' interrupted Jack. Ain't never been there, the people, the skyscrapers, the roads the spaceport, the bars, and the clubs. Jack put on a hopeful look.

'And you're not likely to go there with us!' Obi-Wan snapped a little harshly. 'I don't think we will be doing much clubbing either. Sorry, ' he continued as Jack looked disappointed, 'But we don't need passengers or farmboys,' Jack wasn't happy at this description of him and glared at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan was only too happy to sneer a little at him and glare back.

Qui-Gon however held up his hand. 'Whilst it is true we don't need passengers, we certainly could do with some help on board. Yes, we could. Now, you said you were re-re figuring your computer systems. I've had a look at yours and I must admit you have some advanced stuff. Better than we have even.' He looked at his young apprentice Obi-Wan, 'I take it you haven't updated ours yet, have you?'

'I'd love to, I just can't get around to it!' muttered Obi-Wan.

'Well, there's a job for Jack. Do you think you are up to it?'

Jack answered, 'Yes,' enthusiastically and was welcomed aboard.

Although Obi-Wan did mutter a little too loudly, 'Just what we need a computer nerd!' with, after leaving a note to his employers that he would be away, or he could always get another job if he had to, Jack boarded the ship, called The Adventurer. It blasted off into space as Jack looked out of a little cabin at the stars in the Galaxy. As always Jack was impressed by the sight of the Stars. Thousands of little white dots shinning in their brilliance against the blackness of space. The adventurer moved along this it's powerful turbines at the back beaming brightly in the night.

But after settling in for a few hours, Jack decided to get to work on the computer. He quite enjoyed this type of thing really. So he smiled as he explored the programs sub systems. Quorm saw him and gave Jack an encouraging slap on the back. Dwalin, one of the Dwarves gave him some assistance, Dwarves having a talent for technical matters.

Obi-Wan took a look at the result and had to confess to been impressed. 'All right, so you've earned you're passage with us. I always was a little annoyed at the way in which this system died every now and again. Still, we must be a bit careful we are now leaving the Tantooine Solar System. We have heard that some Pirates operate in this area of space. Unless we're sure, jumping into lightspeed is a tricky enough operation as it is but we know that there are some pirates about. That is why we are taking a little time. Qui-Gon had to secure the are to make sure that some pirate doesn't take a potshot at us as we leave!'

Well, Pirates could be a danger as the Dwarves knew. Indeed there was even a recent attack upon Tatooinne, although it was thousands of miles away from Jack and he knew little of it. Then an alarm sounded.

The Ships panels turned red. 'ALERT, ALERT, ALERT, UNDER ATTACK!' It called.

'Pirates!' man the defences!' Obi-Wan snapped. Out of an asteroid, large, unmarked, black ships appeared. One blocked the Adventures path while 2 sped behind and fired at the craft, which rocked under the missile. Jack looked out in fear at his first taste of action in space. Obi-Wan issued a sharp command to him and Sam sat on the pilot's seat.

'Calodian Pirates. Very dangerous. We need to flee or fight!'

Then a voice appeared over the tannoy and someone appeared over the adventurers viewcom. A burly man dressed in flamboyant leathers and an eye patch commanded, 'Captain of this ship!' surrender your vessel to us or prepare to fired upon!' The Pirates ship appeared very messy to Jack, unlike the quiet order of the interior of the adventurer.

Then we'll kill all of you anyway! a thinner pirate interrupted his skipper.

The Pirate Captain lost his temper. 'What? What did you have to go and tell them for you idiot they are supposed to have some kind of incentive to surrender!' and he hit the thinner pirate sending him flying across the Pirate's ship. Then the captain tried to find the controls to switch of the connection. Failing to do so he pulled out a blaster crying, 'Up yours!' and fired at the screen which went dead


	2. Attack of the Clones, really this time!

Well, the crew of the adventurer didn't really need much warning. Jack had heard tales of Pirates that made his blood run cold, killing of innocent folk, ejecting captured Prisoners alive unprotected into space, torture, boiling in hot water, often told to him by Jack's dear old impressionable aunt. Quite gruesome tales to send an impressionable young child to sleep really!

The Dwarves, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon operated the ships gun batteries while Sam piloted. Sam gave Jack a job to do. 'Jack, m'lad, you can operate the shields. Just keep them switched on and above 25% if you can!' Sam ordered. Jack ashen-faced obeyed. Doing this was harder than it appeared as every time a pirate blast hit the ship, the shields went down. The Pirate ship in front of them was tough enough, but then there was the other 3 covering the adventurer in a circle of firebolts. Indeed, Dwalin was knocked back by an explosion which destroyed his cannon.

Then Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan looked at each other and nodded. At that moment the fight changed. The adventurer increased its speed rapidly and flew around the Pirates craft. Obi-Wan fired a whole volley of shots in a mere second. The lead Pirate ship exploded. That was enough for the rest that fled before Qui-Gon's precise shooting. But this was still nearly fatal to Jack. A shot exploded just in front of him outside the ship. This caused its walls to collapse near to Jack and Jack was only saved from falling int the coldness of space to his death by Sam grabbing him and pulling Jack back from the deadliness of the vacuum.

'I suggest that now is a good time to jump to light-speed,' said Qui-Gon and they made a hop to Dantooine.

Whilst in hyperspace all were sitting down on the chairs in the comfy ships lounge which even had blue carpets and the grey walls were decorated by a few attached paintings. There were even cooking facilities on board which could be of us in a long journey. 'I thought we were in trouble then!' said Jack. As he tucked in on his evening meal, but shaking up a bit by his experience.

'We were in trouble and we still could be. This area of space has obviously seen a bit of Pirate activity recently. The Planet should be safe enough, but we won't be returning this was,' explained Qui-Gon.

'Some of your shooting was quite impressive!'

'Not so much for Jedi's Jack, it does help having the use of the Force!'

'What's the Force?' asked Jack.

Quoi-Gon explained that the Force was a mystical, universal thing that covered the Galaxy and some few could access this and use it to their advantage, such as Jedi. 'But the Jedi's influence has fallen recently in the Galaxy. Particularly in the Wild Western rim without Republic control. Out here finding Jedi is quite hard,' Qui-Gon patted Obi-Wan's back. 'Obi-Wan here didn't even know about his powers. Until I found him on one of the wildworlds in the Rim. In the old days it was a bit unconventional for one to take on an apprentice at his age, but well ...'

'We we will be travelling into systems were not much word and few people have come for many years. There are nasty rumours. We know that fleets of clone ships are out there. Plus many fell monsters. Which is dangerous enough without all of the normal pitfalls of travelling, through as good as uncharted space! Qui-Gon then gave a little wink to Jack and continued, 'Also, there are spectacular sights, the pleasures of uncharted worlds, many amazing creatures, different civilizations and possibly advantageous rewards,'

'But I don't expect you'll be knowing much about that as you'll be back to Tatooine the first chance you get!'

Something odd was happening to Jack listening to Qui-Gon and then Obi-Wan's more sarcastic comments. He was suddenly feeling that he was rather trapped in his own rather dull desert-world. A burning desire arose in his heart to see the galaxy out there. With all its variations. And with the possibility of making a difference. He said softly, 'Well, perhaps I could come with you!' suggested he hopefully.

'The lad's proved useful so far!' said Sam supporting him,

'What are the rewards?' Jack asked wisely.

Qui-Gon stopped eating and looked thoughtfully at Jack. 'The rewards are, for one, that we know that treasure is there on the Dwarves world. Unclaimed, and I have it's location!' Qui-Gon fingered a little map of his in his jacket. It's just a case of getting there. But if we succeed it's more wealth than you could possibly imagine.' Qui-Gon smiled in his almost casual manner.

Obi-Wan sighed, 'Yes, but will he really do? All right Jack here's a decent chap but will he survive the rigours of our journey? The going will be dangerous and tough. We might very well not be coming back, but we have to try as you say. We can only pick certain people, you said that Qui-Gon. What does everyone else thing? It's not even like he's a Jedi or anything!'

'And does one have to be a Jedi to be on this trip?' snarled Sam,

'Well, it helps to have some sort of ability!' Obi-Wan argued.

Then Qui-Gon raised his hand. 'Kenobi, I like this Jack. It might seem unlikely now, but I say that Jack will be essential to the success of your mission. You can take him with my blessings my apprentice. Obi-Wan smiled. Quogon had formerly called him by Obi-Wan's surname, Kenobi and had thus remanded him of his status. Qui-Gon had made up his mind. The other 3 crew members enthusiastically went over and shook Jack's hand.

'Wo, What's our next move?' Sam asked.

'It won't take us long to get to Dantooine. We'll be dropping out of Hyperspace within the hour. On Dantooine we need supplies to re-fuel and hopefully get some information. Then... well, they call Dantooine the gateway of the wild West. From their it 's hard to say. We need to know a bit about where we are going, naturally it would be unwise in that area to simply drop out of Hyperspace with no idea of were we where or what could be their. Many have suffered deaths for making that mistake.

'What about the Rockies?' Sam informed. 'The Rockies are a wild group of systems that have an unusual large number of Asteroid belts. Not to mention rogue ones. Also not to mention that people think Clone warriors, Pirates, monsters dwell there!' which was true, although rumour did make the situation seem worse, The Rockies, also known as the West Asteroid systems.

'So we should just avoid it, then!' suggested Obi-Wan.

'Not a chance. The only other way would be over the Galactic plane. Twice as long and we would be in just as much danger when we came back. I agree with Sam. This would be the only route for us. After Dantooine it is the logical if dangerous choice,' Qui-Gon stood up and bowed at Sam with his arms folded across his grey, long, but comfortable Jedi robes.

'Dropping out of Hyperspace, Dantoine!' Dwalin called.

There was a short day at Dantooine. Jack was able to see a few of the sights of the spectacular capitol, but the most interesting moment happened later on. As Jack was about to board the adventurer onto the next s toge he saw Sam was a accompanied by a small, curcular, metal white/blue Droid. 'R2D2 a Droid I have known,' Sam explained. 'I was hoping to find him here. I've worked with him before, hes a good droid and he says he's looking forward to travelling with me again!'

R2 gave a cheery metallic beep in response. Although Jack didn't understand it, as R2 could not speak in any language other than the droid language of binary it did sound a bit ironic especially as Jack could hear Qui-Gon giving a little laugh in response.

So, the Adventurer took off from Dantooine, sped through its atmosphere and made the jump into lightspeed. 3 Jumps were done with relative ease, though Jack did notice the Stars getting closer and many large rocks in the black background. Many blocked out the stars, and there were also star-clouds about, all of which made Jack very nervous and beginning to wish that he had never come on this journey.

At the third jump Obi-Wan shouted 'Whoa!' as the adventurer had come out of Hyperspace in the middle of an asteroid belt. Well, in the middle of a planetary system full of Asteroids, really! 'who taught you how to navigate?' he shouted at the unfortunate black Dwarf that had navigated the vessel.

'Come now!' Qui-Gon countered, 'It's not always easy navigating in such a wild quodrant.'

'Well, it hasn't been too bad so far, maybe we'll get through this comfortably!' Jack was hopefully thinking. But no sooner had he thought this when a missile slammed into the Adventurer. There was an explosion in the ship's hull and it lost control. The adventurer sped down upon a large nearby Asteroid and crash landed upon it, even breaking the surface. All were knocked unconscious.

Jack awoke. He was the first to do so. He looked around the Adventurer. The first thing he noticed was a great gap in the walls of the ship. The next thing he noticed, with a groan was helmeted Clones in blue Armour invading the ship. Clones! vendictive, identical, remorseless creatures. The terror of much of the west of the Galaxy. Human, or at least descended from Human, how, none knew, but Clones were responsible for massacres, unprovoked attacks, causing utter chaos in the wilder sectors of the West. Even Jack in his sheltered upbringing recognized the distinctive blue armour and the blue staring unblinking eyes of the creatures.

As everyone else awoke, the clones pointed rifles at all of the crew. All were outnumbered and forced to march under the Asteroid's surface, through many narrow corridors with low roofs in the darkness. More than once Jack had to duck to avoid banging his head on the wooden beams. Some of the clones did knock their heads n them, but with blue helmets and thick skulls this scarcely seemed to matter.

'Why, oh why did I come on this journey? I wish I was safe on my farm home!' thought Jack.

The Clones did have plastic face guards, but their faces were visible. Not that that made much difference. All were identikit and if one did take of their helmet they would all have short blond hair. One fired a shot at Sam's right hand causing him to yelp with pain. 'Do not move your hand anywhere near potential weapons!' A clone ordered in a rough voice.

Jack came to a large chamber, a mix of old rocks and newer metal and computers. Plus many Clones with their rifles pointing at their prisoners. jack was very uneasy, but Qui-Gon seemed to be looking around almost with interest. One of the Clones stood up on a metallic platform by himself.

'Report unlogged vessel and beings on home surface.' said one of the guards.

The Commanding Clone replied, 'Unregistered beings. Computer databank recommends brain removal surgery and consequential scan to find information on activity.' Jack had heard of brain removal surgery. But the precise details involved the brain cut out from the persons head often while still conscious but this obviously involved death and a lenghty reading of the brains memory. Very few survived this process with any type of sanity.

But Qui-Gon seemed surprisingly calm. He gave a little nod to Obi-Wan.

'But we have a secondary consideration.' The clone commander said again after a pause. 'Let them free to go back to their surface. No bother to us, let them go! Have a nice day!' The Commander said to the prisoners. This was a surprising and unusual offer from a Clone colony. Jack smiled and slowly made his way to the tunnel with everyone else. He even had his blaster in full working order still with him!

'Now we run!' Obi-Wan hissed,

'Why?'

'Because those Clones are about to change their mind again!' Obi-Wan finished.

To confirm his words some Clones appeared behind them crying, 'stop!' and then firing as all the party scarpered at top speed.

Jack ran through the tunnels with Clones close by firing shots at him. Some landed just behind him but others hit the wooden ceiling over his head. Qui-Gon lead them on through many twists and turns and the pursuit left behind. Not that this was too much comfort and Qui-Gon still urged them all to run to the adventurer at full pelt. But just then Jack was forced to halt.

A large gap cut across the tunnel revealing a fall to depths of which Jack could only imagine. 'We're going to have to jump, we can't go back!' Qui-Gon said. The gap was about 7 feet across. All jumped fine, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan comfortably. But Jack nearly missed it and for a horrible moment toppled downwards into the depths. He was saved by Kili, who caught him as he fell and pulled Jack across and they both landed upon their knees.

'Good job I've been keeping up with those thigh exercises!' smiled Kili.

'Why, oh why was I so keen to come on this journey?' muttered Jack to himself, not for the last time.

Finally they came to the surface which had a thin, breathable just, atmosphere, this been a large Asteroid. Jack could see The Adventurer but he could also see a few Clones blocking the way. But everyone went on as there was no going back as Qui-Gon had said. Both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan pulled out their light-sabers the weapon of the Jedi which produced a colourful single blue and white flame. Sam also produced a blaster and fired grimly.

The feroicity of the fighting scattered the clones. Everyone jumped into the adventurer, in top wpeed the Jediss almost magically using the fForce to make repairs with the help of the Droid, RD, who beeped as he plugged himself into the Adventurer's computer. The Adventurer rose. 'It'll take a little while for me to program a course with all these Asteroids and hazards around. R2 can help but the rest of you had better take it easy if you can,' Sam, who was piloting, advised.

In the lounge Jack sat down on one of the single leather clad chairs, legs comfortably crossed, but he had a puzzled look about him as he asked, 'Well, there was a few things about that situation which I was a bit puzzled about. Why did those Clones let us go so politely. This doesn't sound like them. Then they changed their mind again and went after us. What went on?'

Qui-Gon smiled and then sat down at ease opposite Jack and drank some nice refreshing corellian Tea. 'Jedi mind trick!' he explained. 'We Jedis can use the force to control the minds of the week. But it doesn't always work. And with a command structure like the Clones have just controlling a Captain wouldn't work for long. letting us go would soon have been heard of by one of his commanders. Or those under his command wouldn't accept it!'

'I wouldn't be surprised if one of the other clones hadn't shot the fellow by now!' laughed Obi-Wan grimly.

'That sounds a little harsh!' said Jack, but Obi-Wan looked grim.

'Interesting point, however!' using the Force to manipulate the weak to your own ends. Now that sounds a bit like the dark side to me, how do you Jedi justify that one!' said Sam a little cheekily, but the difference between light-sided and dark-sided force users were sometimes a bit vague and Sam sometimes liked to test the sometimes righteous Jedi.

'Well, their Clones, so who cares?' answered Obi-Wan, a bit accurately as far as many in the Galaxy thought.

'Yes, well, we'll just leave that one for now!' replied Qui-Gon a bit more grumpily.

'Typical Jedi vagueness!' laughed Sam.

'What was more interesting was our episode with those Clones.'

'Interesting, you have a strange idea of interesting!' cried Dwalin.

'Well, yes it was. It is not always known were the Clones are gathering or what types they are. It seems that they have colonies in this asteroid belt. There are those that would like to know this! It does say something about the strategic situation in this part of the Galaxy. Then he looked over at Dwalin who was piloting and looking puzzled. 'Something the matter?'

'Yes, these controls don't seem that accurate. I can go into hyperspace, but I'm not sure we're well come out!'

The ship came out of hyperspace, but rocked. 'I've a bad feeling about this!' said Sam.


	3. Anakin

The Adventurer jumped out of hyperspace. 'Slight problem, I seem to be unable to gain control of the course,' yelled Dwalin as he fought and sometimes literally banged and pulled at the controls. Ahead, there was a large Gas planet that loomed ominously across the screens. The Adventurer lurched towards it at top speed, despite Dwalin's best efforts to stop it. Dwalin pointed out it had a temperature of 300 degrees centigrade, a pressure level not even a Dwarf could handle and poisonous gas. If the Adventurer had crashed upon it, it would be a case of it's occupants been instantly burned, crushed and poisoned!

Qui-Gon shouted, 'Run a level 4 diagnostic!'

'What, now, why?' asked Dwalin.

'Because I think we need to!'

'But Qui-Gon, that will take 30 minutes are you sure?'

'Lets just call this a Jedi hunch, Padawan!' explained Qui-Gon.

It was a little unusual for one to run a level 4 diagnostic. A level 1 was more common, but this was just a general check on a ship's systems. Level 4 was much deeper. But Jack was grateful that they did. About 25 minutes later Sam said, 'Uh-oh found something. This ship isn't travelling as randomly as one might think. Buried deep is a controlling program. Setting our course automatically,'

'Who could have done that?'

'The Clones, what do you think? They must have put in a controlling program while we were absent, Fili!'

'Quick work, for them, they only had around an hour, still they can do that!' Qui-Gon growled.

Fili had a look a the ship's systems controls. 'I think I can regain control. We know where the problem is and R2 here can delete the controlling program. I just hope we have time, hold on!' Sam and Fili re-took control of the ship's navigation. Jack watched out of the cockpit as the red-gas planet loomed outside. The planet loomed larger, larger and larger. They were going to crash, surely! Jack dived to the floor in fright. However, with a scream, the Adventurer turned away from the Planet just as it touched the red atmosphere below in the nick of time.

'That was a bit too close!' cried Jack as R2 beeped.

'Where to now? Any way we can avoid those Clones?' Dwalin asked.

'Well, we are in need of more supplies and time to run a few repairs. I'm afraid this poor ship does get damaged a bit during our journeys. There is a little planet that I have heard of a few light-years away. I have heard of it, it doesn't have any technical civilization as far as I know it is abandoned, however it might suit for us.'

'Will there be any beings at all, though?' Sam asked.

R2 gave a cheerful beep from the cockpit. The hop took no more than half-an-hour and the Planet was at the end of it, a large blue/yellow/green spherical object. The planet did have a name, but nothing more than soc-45s. It did have some rudimentary life, even some primitive but intelligent ape-like creatures. Perhaps because of the nearness of the Clone dwellings, the planet had been rarely visited. Though Qui-Gon was looking at it strangely.

'I'm not sure, something there seems to be calling me!' mused he.

The planet was hot and a bight sun shone in the sky. Jack was wearing shorts and a short but he was still very hot. He and the Dwarves in particular was wearing sun-cream, the Dwarves a lot as they are not too found of over-hot temperatures. In fact, both Dwalin and Fili sat down with a sigh and Fili swatted some small flying insects from his face. 'In fact, I hope you're not expecting us to do too much here!' Fili yawned.

'Well,' winked Quo-Gon, 'I heard there is some Rat around!' Dwarves have a fondness for Rat. At least Rat with sauce. Core-ketchup been favorite. Rat didn't taste that nice without it! Or maybe the special rat-sauce that Dwarves had especially for the purpose. Known as Dachmulz in the Dwarf tongue. The recipe was secret, but was known to contain chillies!

Jack walked along under the primeval hot sun along a grassy field which contained some wild animals, reptillic creatures were grazing plus a few sheep. On the border were some woods and in the distance Jack could see mountains. Plus if he looked carefully he saw some lakes between the mountains In one of them, a large creature with a long neck reared up and bellowed then continued swimming. Quo-Gon had suggested the woods as a good place to start foraging and so Jack dodged the creatures in the field that looked at him curiously but unused to outside contact did nothing or even more away. This was until some furry mammals with horns and 3 legs seemed to take an unhealthy interest in Jack, so Jack decided to move quickly into the woods.

The woods were leafy and peaceful and birds sang as Jack looked around. The trees were tall and silvery. Through them the hot sun and blue sky could still be seen though the branches which offered shade forwhich Jack was grateful. Upon much of the ground a green fern grew for about six inches. White, purple and orange flowers were scattered around the foot of the trees of about the same height.

Little insects, nearly every life-form world in the galaxy had some form of Insects which was odd but the Galactic-wide entomologists had theories about this, crawled, flew, jumped, slithered or chirped all around. Some little furry creatures climbed up a tree. Nuts and fruits were also scattered around. Jack could see that this was a place teeming with life. But he was now tired in the heat.

So, Jack decided to put it upon himself to have a quiet nap. Just at that moment he heard a laugh. He thought it was one of his companions, but it appeared to be a child's laugh. Anyway as Jack looked around he could see nothing so lay back down. Jack was about to take a nap and stretched his hands behind him on a tree-trunk's bark when he felt something.

He pulled up a glove from under the tree. A single glove, how strange. It was brown, but had some interesting runes upon it. One right-handed glove by itself didn't seem to be of much use to Jack, yet he tried it on. For some reason he felt tingly. Feeling slightly silly, Jack took the glove of again and made to throw it away. Yet he did not do so. Feeling some urge he did not quite understand, Jack put the glove into his pack.

Jack again felt the need for sleep and was about to drop of when he heard Fili call, 'Hey lazybones. Though you were supposed to be helping us gather food come on! Plenty of Rats around, we don't want to miss out!' somehow the prospect of Rat had energized the Dwarf. He jumped around and took it upon the task to catch some rodents.

'If it's Rats you want, I think you're in for a treat, shame about the rest of us!' thought Jack a bit ironically, though for the rest of the afternoon he did do his bit and was able to pick up quite a pack-full of food of all kinds though of a vegetarian nature, he hadn't manage to catch any animal though he did think of trying a little fishing, and was able to join Fili back at the Adventurer. Though there he heard that noise again. That laugh. And almost a child singing softly. Was someone here?

'Did you hear anything?' Jack asked Fili.

'Nothing unusual, why?' Fili replied.

'Oh, no reason!' replied Jack thinking perhaps he was just imagining things. But back in the Adventurer and seen as no-one was going anywhere for a while, Qui-Gon thought that a fresh meal would be a good idea. This was eagerly agreed by everyone else and an outside fire was got going and some food prepared. Jack gulped down some ale, 'Don't fancy that rat much myself!' he said.

'Agree with you on that one!' Obi-Wan smiled.

'Personally, I quite like rat!' said Qui-Gon surprisingly.

'But youre not a Dwarf!' exclaimed Jack.

'Congratulations, I must say that we have trained you well on your observation skills!' said Qui-Gon ironically standing up to his full height of 6ft. A little bigger than your average Dwarf. But Qui-Gon adjusted the rat on the barbecue and smiled explaining, 'I got a taste for it. During the Core worlds campaign against the Clones. Amazing what some Dwarves can cook with just a rat and a little sauce!' This knowledge seemed to enhance Qui-Gon's reputation with the two Dwarves.

Jack was still thinking that someone might be out there and took a look around whilst he was eating. But his attention was bought back to Qui-Gon talking about the Clone Wars. 'Just about bought the Galaxy to it's knees. They came out of the Western Rim. Developed by scientists from Humans and they still are just about human. But it's little remembered now that at first their purpose wasn't known. They just seemed like a species the same as any other. But there attacks were so devastating. And you Dwarves seemed to suffer from their attacks more than most!'

This was true. Throughout much of the Wild West, Clones had raided and even taken Dwarf colonies and showed little mercy towards the Dwarves. Clones envied Dwarves skilled work and desired to destroy it as they lacked the ability to create what the Dwarves did for themselves. And as both tended to use the same areas of the Galaxy, this made the Dwarves high on the Clone enemy list.

'You don't need to tell us that!' said Dwalin.

'Indeed! But I suspect that even you Jack on your out of touch Planet have heard of them. What many people don't know is how close they came to capturing Coruscant. We had to put everything into the Battle of Zava. How close we came to losing that one. And even victory came at quite a cost. The destruction was horrifying. Plus Coruscant was forced to loose it's hold on the Western rim which has declined further and further into barbarism to this day. The Clones still hold out in many areas and are capable of unleashing terror as you have witnessed. Recently rumour has it that they have been growing in strength and there is evidence for that!'

'Could the Republic not re-capture the lost areas?' asked Obi-Wan.

'I'm not sure it has the military strength even if it wanted to which it doesn't not been fully united right now on the political front. Also forays into the wild west do have to be taken with care. It has to be said that the last military venture wasn't exactly a glorious success.' Qui-Gon prodded the barbecue some more causing smoke to rise to the evening sky, 'The Sindar campaign probably did more harm than good!'

'I suppose that's true, just had two civilizations battle each other out to exhaustion,' growled Fili. Indeed this was the case. In fact, both nations had blasted their resources at each other and as such many worse bands than them such as Pirates, Clones or Monsters had taken their place and there now simply wasn't the power in the Galaxy to drive them out. Although some more thoughtful strategic thinkers like Quo-Gon were aware of this and this entire journey was in a way a plan of his to make the more chaotic parts of the Galaxy safer.

'Yes, not that I bare any special love to the Sindar! Indeed, them and I have a bit of a quarrel over some work I once did for them!' said Sam. He was a bit reluctant to talk about the reason, but the truth was that Sam claimed they owed him more money than they paid him, Sam had gotten annoyed and blasted some of their equipment which they claim Sam owed them money for, likewise. Now the Sindar were not like other creatures and did not embark on galactic-wide ventures to get their money back, but this did make relations between them and Sam a bit cold!

'How are the rest of the Galaxy fearing, we are starved of news on Tatooine!' asked Jack.

'Hard to say. Much of the Galaxy is peaceful and prosperous, though it does take all of the political skills of the Republic's leadership to keep it that way. And the West is out of it's influence and chaos and barbarism does take a hold. Many of those that live here do look in envy at the Republic worlds, but for all their peace, the Republic is not always that generous,' Qui-Gon explained, thoughtfully.

'They certainly don't let everyone in!' Sam sighed, chewing on a Corellian Burger. 'I for one would love to be able to settle upon one of their worlds in peace, but I simply don't have the connections, the right species, nationality, or skills to do it. Which does explain why I am here. I would like to retire at some point from my current occupation, Moon-mining which can be a little dangerous!'

'A skilled job, mind!'

'Maybe, Dwalin, but at my time of life I should be thinking of retiring. Or I would be having a nice pension like citizens of the Republic do. But too many people in my line of work retire with blown limbs or worse. I just don't fancy that happening to me. Which is one reason why I am on this journey with the hope of gold at the end. A nice little retirement package if you ask me!'

Sam's self-justification and the conversation began to drift over Jack's head. But yet again he heard that laugh. He pinched Obi-wan, 'Did you hear anything?' but the Jedi's answer was negative. Curious now, Jack moved out a little. He moved a little way up a hill and there, he heard it again and he saw something for definite. A young boy it seemed, but the figure soon moved away. Jack was curious. He followed the figure along the grassy hill and through some little bushes.

For a while, Jack lost the kid. Then from out of a rock the boy leaped before him and asked 'Hello, silly, why have you come to my world?' the boy. Mind, the boy was quite a few meters away and higher than Jack and he did look a bit nervous. Not to mention a little unkempt. The boy was around 9 he looked cheerful as a child can but he did seem to have a touch of sadness in his eyes.

Now how had this happened? Jack thought to himself. Hadn't even Qui-Gon said that this planet was devoid of any intelligent life-forms? Still, planetary observations don't get everything, he remembered. This kid seemed pleasant enough and if he was on his own, could be in trouble. Holding out his hand Jack asked, 'Who are you? and are there any more people here, we thought this was a deserted world!'

'What's deserted? My name? Tell me who you are, silly!'

'All right, my name's Jack. Jack Sandcleaver. Well?

'AAAA, Anakin. That's it. Anakin. I have no other!'

'Is your mummy here?'

But with that question a look of sadness passed Anakin's face. 'No-one else here. Me only!'

With that Anakin jumped onto Jack with a big bearhug that Jack returned. Well, clearly Anakin was craving for fellow human company. But Jack was still curious about how Anakin was here and thought that maybe Qui-gon would also like to know. Still he hugged Anakin back and playfully wrestled the boy to the ground. When, to his surprise, somehow Anakin managed to through Jack many meters back, his back hitting a tree-trunk.

'Ouch, that hurt!' cried Jack.

'Sorry, Mr Silly, didn't meant that!' said Anakin with bad grammar. But then he was off, bounding with speed for a small child up the hillside. He might fall going up there! thought Jack and so he headed of after the boy. Then he looked down. The drop was longer than it had looked at first sight and Jack could see a sharp fall going over a hundred feet down to rocks and a stream. His own feet slid on the precarious path he was on. 'Perhaps I should be worried about myself!' thought he!

Rightly, as it turned out. No sooner had he turned around, when a large, white-furry creature jumped out to him and waved it's paws. One hit Jack. Whatever reason the creature had for attacking Jack, the action was enough to make Jack stumble and tilt over the cliff. For a moment, he desperately hung on, his fingers scrabbling onto the dirt of the rocks. But then his fingers lost their grip and he plunged downwards towards the earth a hundred feet below, facing certain death...


	4. To Bushey

Jack at this point expected nothing but a hard death on the rocks. But then to his amazement he felt something. Someone's hand. A boy's hand. Anakin was beside him, but he had jumped down and was now floating in mid-air. Anakin pulled Jack back, hundreds of feet up to the path on the cliff and safety. Jack panted and opened his eyes. He looked curiously at Anakin. 'I'm not sure as to how you managed that!' he asked as he leaned back on the hill.

'Always been able to. A bit. I did think of just letting you fall, but I think I like you!' said the boy. Jack was now very curious about this lad. Just how had he managed to do such a thing? Jack decided that he should take the kid to the Jedi's and ask them. He had heard strange rumours of such things in the Galaxy but he hardly expected to find it here.

'Come with me, I think you might be interested in meeting some people!' suggested Jack. But he heard a cry from down below. His friends were having other problems. He and Anakin heard growls from the ship and howls. He dashed back and saw a pack of wild, furry creatures large with sharp teeth and claws had surrounded it and were howling and trying to get inside.

Ferrals. A bit of a cross between wolf and bear and a creature that likes to travel in packs. At the moment, blaster bolts from the Adventurer were discouraging the creatures but there were many of them and eager for a meal. Jack was wondering how he was going to get to the craft, but Anakin said he would use the aerial route. But this time it wasn't so easy. A flock of primeval birds that like to travel with the Ferrals saw Anakin and flew at him causing Anakin to duck and to drop Jack.

Fortunately on this occasion not far from the ground, though Jack did twist his knee badly. He saw one of the creatures look at him and expected to be attacked. But curiously, the creature looked straight through Jack and did not move. 'Anakin, over here!' he called, But Anakin could not see Jack either. That was because Jack had just slipped on his glove as he dropped from Anakin's hand. He was now invisible to both friend and foe. Another strange piece of magic!

Jack crawled over to the Adventurer's door and were the Ferrals had retreated for a while. He took of his glove and cried out to the boy. Anakin came down to earth and Sam saw both of them outside the door. 'There he is, we'd better let him in! Sam growled and moved to open the door. Both Jack and Anakin dived inside and the door closed to the howls of the ferrals.

'There you are, we were almost about to go outside with all of these creatures to find you!' puffed Obi-wan standing in front of Jack. 'Oh, and who is this lad you've bought with you? I could have sworn that Qui-Gon said that the planet was uninhabited of intelligent life!' R2 started up the Adventurer's engines and the ship took off into the sky.

Qui-Gon put his arms around the boy's shoulders. 'Greetings! Well, our ship's analysis doesn't quite get everything. But it is interesting that one boy could survive this world. Plus I can almost sense something about you!' Qui-Gon lead Anakin to the Adventurer's living quarters. Jack told him Anakin's name and how he had found him. Qui-Gon was very interested.

Especially about the flying part. 'You mean this kid literally flew in the sky?'

'Walked in the Sky really. He was a natural Skywalker! Though don't ask me too much about it, I had my eyes shut at the time!' It was an odd thing, but at this point this nickname stuck. Anakin never knew his real surname so Skywalker was as good a one as any. It was a good description after all. Qui-Gon was interested in how he had survived on such a primeval planet. Anakin had known his mother, had known a few space-travellers that had apparently crash-landed upon the planet. This was partly due to a clash with Pirates above. The pirates had been killed, but the travellers ship had been destroyed and so they were stranded.

For nearly a year, Anakin had had to survive without his mother as well. She had been killed in a fight with some Ferrals that had attacked her, though she had slain them in the process. So, Anakin had scarcely spoken to an intellegent voice for a while now. It was surprising in a way that he had such a good power of speech. But then Qui-Gon tried something. He had a little instrument in his possessions. He scanned Anakin with this and was very surprised at the results.

'It would seem that you are force-sensitive, Anakin. Very much so. Almost right of the dial. Much more so than you, Obi-wan, you might have some competition here!' said Qui-Gon looking up. Obi-wan gave Anakin a look of curiosity, almost jealousy. 'But I think you should look after him. Jedi's, even potential Jedi's are quite rare!' Qui-Gon took a glass of water. 'Now for our next stop. Naturally we are on our way to Erebor but which is the quickest and maybe safest direction?'

'I suggest Bushey!' answered Sam. 'It is the last stop of some sort of Civilization before the wild gets really nasty. We need somewhere to refuel and to navigate. Going on from there it may be tricky to find a route if we can find one at all between all of the space hazards that lie in our way!' there was no recognized safe route which anyone knew to Erebor from there anyway.

Jack was not all sure he liked the idea of space hazards and again was thinking why oh why did I come on this wretched journey.

R2 gave out some excited beeps. Sam continued, 'Oh, R2 has some new information. Apparently one Darth Maul has been seen with his Sith to the right of us. I think that just about rules out that way! I don't suppose any of us wants a confrontation with that demon.' Darth Maul was a name that struck fear throughout the Western rim. A man with magical powers similar to a Jedi really, but he used them for evil. He lead a band of followers that had the power to torment a man's soul, but it was said that he particularly didn't like the Jedi.

'All the same, it may be about time we had it out with this Darth Maul character. I believe we can handle him. We shouldn't run away!' spoke Obi-Wan bravely but possibly with little wisdom. But Obi-Wan had heard of Darth Maul's dislike of his creed and took this almost as a personal insult. He looked grim and fingered the halt of his lightsaber, not at all put off by the glance Sam had given him and his Jedi teacher at the Sith's mention.

'I don't think we should go out of our way to find him, however! But you are correct, Sam, I don't think that right is the direction for us. Most other ways are stiff with Clones. No good route for us. But yes, Bushey it is! That's not too far I think,' Qui-Gon consulted his starmap on his pad, 'Good thing I have this as your device is playing up again, Sam!' and he gave directions.

'You seem to have a lot of trouble with your little mobile Internet gateway, Sam!' laughed Jack.

'It does. But I like it. It's a flashy job, look at all of those lovely screens and things. Quick too, I can do stuff at more than twice the speed that your connection does. But your right it is a shame that it has a habit of breaking down, often at very inconvenient times.' In fact, had Sam thought about it, Jack's slower but more reliable connection might have been better in the long run. But Sam liked things deceptively easy at times.

'I also have a friend in Bushey. Have spoken to him on many an occasion. He does know this area and about our journey, he might very well be able to help us.' This was a person that Sam had, or thought he did, know well. But what he didn't say was that he had never actually met him. It was a Galacticnet relationship only. But Sam had often thought he would like to!

So the party agreed on Bushey. It took only a few stops and little time to travel there. But on one, Jack saw Qui-Gon shake as though with fear and to sense something. Jack wasn't the most sensitive type either, but he could feel an impression of, evil and fear as though something or someone was trying to dominate him. He asked Qui-Gon, 'Are you all right?'

Qui-Gon sighed, 'I can sense something through the force. Someone evil. Darth Maul, I recognize it. I confronted him a few years back. He is very powerful. And nearby. In the same quadrant I wouldn't be surprised. But we must stick to our task. Be careful though. His Sith are known to pick on people when they are at their most vulnerable or alone. And their precise numbers are not known. I'll inform everyone else!'

Jack rubbed at his tender twisted knee. Qui-Gon said that he might cure it, but the consequences might be worse than the injury, so best to just let it mend itself. Which was all very well, but it did mean that his knee would feel a bit sore for a day or so. Jack had to be a bit careful in moving it. Anakin had also agreed to come with him them. He had more chance of a life with people than existing alone on that planet he was on.

So, Bushey! A mostly friendly planet, though it did have one or two wild places in the desert of the wild. It did have a sizeable population of many different species though one did need citizenship to live there. But travellers were allowed to pass through. It did have a Navy and have to cope with raids from Pirates, Clones and other creatures. Generally though the people of Bushey were good.

The only possible exception was it's President. This was Palpatine. He was a strong man, but many such as Qui-Qon treated him with suspicion. Palpatine was elected, but he had a tendency to look at everything from Bushey's point of view rather than the galactic view and he was a little unforgiving of foreign nations. He was also very strict in domestic politics and didn't take criticism kindly. Bushey been a democracy meant he couldn't lock his opponents up, but he made sure that his Cabinet was full of adoring sycophants but not necessarily those of talent. At the moment his popularity was at a low ebb and the people of the planet seemed to be regretting electing him. Everyone makes mistakes!

The Adventurer landed on a busy port of Liverpool near to a popular Inn were Sam had promised to meet up with his companion from the Net. By the time they landed, it was at night. The party decided to split themselves up. Qui-Gon, Jack, Sam, R2 and Fili would travel to the local Inn to see Sam's companion and try to get information. The others decided to stay on the ship and to plan the next journey.

'Always nice to see new planets!' sighed Sam, sniffing his alien nose at the night's air. But if Jack had looked behind him, he would have seen an unmarked ship of silver and grey diving in slowly beneath the night's clouds and landing quietly but sinisterly a few miles behind them. Out of this ship's doors emerged a few figures in black cloaks that blended in with the night. They moved silently on, creating fear amongst any of Bushey's population that happened to see them in the shadows.

So, Jack saw a busy Inn called the Pearl. It sold a fair selection of Ales which seemed to be of a fair reputation, Sam had liked it anyway and so it was well-recommended Jack thought. Though Jack had a tendency to drink mass-produced beer like TDB's Sam was trying to introduce the boy to more of a variety in his drinking habits.

'I'm just asking you to try it!' suggested he as Jack walked across the lounge of the Inn to a table that the party were using. But Sam sighed, 'Would you believe it, my gateway is playing up again!' and shook the device in his hand with some anger. 'I was trying to get through to Goran but no luck so far, this thing does go out at the most inconvenient times. Anyway, here's some service!'

One of the barstaff happened to be a droid. A humoid, tall, golden droid. By some chance, it knew R2. The droid spoke in a high-pitched tone which was used by protocol droids everywhere. 'R2! What a pleasant surprise to see you here! How are you, how are you? And what brings you to this world?' The droid put his arms around the small aristrometich droid.

R2 gave an enthusiastic but possibly a little scornful one to the droid.

'Well, all right, maybe I'm not exactly up in the Galaxy at the moment, but at least I'm not been shot at, bombed, eaten sentenced to execution or chased by armed men or any of the other delightful things which used to happen in some of our journeys!' the droid, called See-Threepio tittered at his companion. 'And who are your friends?'

'You know me, Threepio, people who would like some service!' smiled Qui-Gon.

'Oh, yes, sirs, my apologies!' said Threepio, though if encouraged he could go on a bit so Qui-Gon was probably wise to cut him off a little. Jack did receive an interesting tasting drink that Sam was gulping down the same type in enthusiasm. Jack sat back and looked around the Inn. There was certainly a wide variety of beings here of all types.

Fili was having a little chat with Threepio. He returned to the table with a frown on his dark Dwarven face. He announced standing up, 'Sorry people, I have a little mission of my own to go on. I'll be a while, probably all evening. I'll see you back on the ship!' and with that he walked of, with Jack saw a particularly grim expression on his face.

'I wonder were he is going?' Jack thought but he was amused soon by the conversation.

Sam was talking a bit about some of his earlier travels which seemed to be considerable. Quite how totally truthful Sam was been was hard for Jack to tell, he knew that Sam could be fanciful sometimes. To be honest Sam could tell barefaced lies! 'Fast!' he was saying, 'Well, that's all right I suppose but not what I would call fast. On the old ship of mine the Cutter, me and me co-pilot Orala the Wookiee made the Kessel run in 15 hours. That's a record that still stands. Must admit, though I was in a hurry. And I did just about smash up my ship so bad I could never use it again. I tried to claim it from Insurance, but they denied me saying that I was guilty of "Irresponsible Piloting!"' Sam concluded to much laughter.

Though Qui-Gon did have a more serious side to the conversation. 'We must be careful of those Sith. If they are about and I do sense them they will be after us. Not only can they sense Jedi they have a pretty good idea of who has been hanging around with Jedi. They have a pathological hatred of Jedi as well, jealous of other force users.'

'They sound nasty. But hopefully we will be able to avoid them in this little trip!'

'Hopefully we will Sam,' replied Qui-Gon slowly and thoughtfully. Soon, Jack was enjoying his dinner. In addition to his beer which Jack had to admit to been tasty and different he had ordered fried Chicken and Corellian Turnips with a variety of local roast vegetables. Chicken, coincidentally, was a bird that was kept for food in farms throughout the Galaxy, wherever there were humans really.

Whilst he was eating his good honest food, Jack did look at Sam's mobile Internet connection with the blue message screen it had. Holding the device easily in the palm of his hand Jack saw Sam's message. It didn't make good Basic, 'B seein u soon, at Pub, plx dnt be lte,' Sam had said to his Internet pal Goran. Jack shock his head and wondered why Sam needed to mangle Basic speech quite so much. Jack often spend many minutes longer than he needed to to get his text's grammatically correct on these things, but Sam was of another school of thought.

'Just so long as people understand me!' Sam had said.

Though Jack thought that he could sense a shadow. He did feel a little nervous and wondered that even though he was now in a busy Inn, could the Sith catch them somehow between here and the Adventurer? He looked out at the foreboding night sky through the window. Despite the heat of the Inn, Jack felt a definite shiver through his spine.


	5. The Sith, Bushey and Goran the Wookiee

Journey through the Stars Chapter 5

The next chapter in this tale. Jack and his companions are on their way to the old Dwarf planet of Erebor which no-one had bought reliable reports from for years. In order to get there they have to go through many planets and sectors in the wild area in space. One of the final civilized stopping points is the planet Bushey were they hope to meet Goran a Wookiee half-breed that someone knows. Unfortunately their journey is been discovered by some Sith under the control of Darth Maul who has a pathological dislike of any Jedi...

Chapter 5:

Another point was that it was only know that Qui-Gon realizied something. 'So, Sam, you are telling me that you haven't actually met this character of yours? That's strange as you are talking like he was an old friend of yours!' Qui-Gon sighed and drank a little of his white wine. Of course in the Galaxy many people talked on the Galacticweb without actually meeting but Qui-Gon did think this odd in this case.

'Don't worry, hes a fine fellow and quite informative. I'm sure that he will be useful to us.' Sam replied.

'Sam!' cried a person from the Inn and a Wookiee in his late twenties came over. This was Goran, a fairly tall hairy creature, a Wookiee although he had some Drax blood in him, strangely so he did look more tall and skinny rather than tall and tough! Fortunately he could speak a fashion of basic though with Wookiee growls so he could be understood. He and Sam shook hands. 'I'm a little late, I know, I'm sorry, I was just looking at possibilities for your journey on my Computer, you have some perils you should avoid and seeing some interesting other information!'

Sam introduced Goran to the party. 'What other information was that?'

Goran sat down and talked quietly though the information wasn't secret. He held a pint in his hand which had long, but thin for Wookiees fingers. 'Like I say, interesting stuff. I have heard that Yoda is making a little exploratory/diplomatic mission into the west. He has bought a reasonable force as well, some say that he might be making some kind of military deal with us. Some are saying that it is nice that the Republic is finally taking more of an interest in these barren lands, but we'll see!'

'What is that device you have their?' asked Qui-Gon.

'Here is the co-ordinates of some of the journey you must take if you wish to get to Erebor. No safe route I'm afraid in fact the space you are headed towards is full of Spacemine clusters, Asteroids belts, Random comets, exploding stars and black holes, many unknown. But I have looked and there is a safesh route which I have plotted here for you!'

Qui-Gon took a look. 'Very detailed material, thank you! I thought you had tried to transfer some data to us, but this been the wild and everything the transmission wasn't compatible. Something this important needs to be manually delivered. Thank you!' Qui-Gon went out to buy Goran a drink at the busy bar. Jack was feeling that the Inn was a little stuffy with all the smoke and went outside. He had nearly finished his meal in any case. He did think the breaded mushrooms was a nice touch. He stood up from his chair and walked out into the garden outside. Or was he drawn out?

He was next to Goran as well and nodded to the Wookiee half-breed. But then a wave of fear hit Jack's heart. He saw a pale figure walk across the garden. There was something of the death about this figure. Jack deduced that this must be one of the Sith that Qui-Gon had talked about. Overcome with terror Jack put on his glove that he had at that moment and vanished from sight, fortunately as the creature was looking directly at him.

But Goran wasn't so fortunate. An odd thing about Goran, though he did have Wookiee blood, he also had Drax blood. An odd combination. Which meant that while he wasn't quite as strong as a Wookiee, he didn't have a Wookiee's total courage either. So an interrogation by one of the Sith that were as undead as one could be was enough to freeze the poor creatures's soul.

In fact Souls were a reason as to why the Sith struck such terror into people. To become one, they had to have a one to one total mindlock with Darth Maul their lord. Which meant that Darth Maul could see through them literally, command them totally and dominate their will. Darth Maul could read and control the very thoughts of his Sith servants.

Anyway, Goran was interrogated by one of the Sith. 'We wish to know the location of Jedi!'

'Jedi, Jedi? er, not aware of any Jedi!' Goran stammered unconvincingly.

A Sith put a sword next to Goran neck. 'We know that you have kept the company of Jedi.' The Sith could sense this. 'Were are there next moves?' The three Sith were concentrating on poor Goran hard. Goran was stammering wondering how to reply. The Sith had been asking lots of questions on some poor folk in Bushey. They had committed murder before now to gain information Goran was in mortal peril.

Goran stammered. 'On one of the slots in Liverpool. I honestly don't know which one!' The Sith hissed and Jack could almost feel their foul breath. But the Sith seemed satisfied with Goran's answer. They gave out a snarl and moved away into the direction of Liverpool. Goran staggered back to the bar in fear, followed by Jack.

Jack slipped of his glove and Goran stammered at Sam. 'I'm sorry, I really am, the Sith asked me questions. They know our rough whereabouts you will have to go back to our ship soon. If the Sith attack, our party should be together!' Goran took a large gulp of a drink to calm his shaking nerves, his hands were shaking over the experience.

'Why do I have to know the only cowardly Wookiee?' sighed Sam but Qui-Gon replied,

'Maybe that's no bad thing. It is probably about time I had it out with this Darth Maul. He seeks me, this saves me the trouble of trying to find him. It is an inconvenicne however. I had hoped to be in this quest to the finish!' Qui-Gon spoke slowly and seemed to have a grim look on his face that Jack hadn't seen on it before.

'What about Jack?' asked Sam who couldn't see him.

'Oh, he's here!' Qui-Gon clipped Jack around the ear. 'I'd take that glove of for now if I were you and you want your friends to see you. Yes, I can. So can a few others. Your little toy is not totally invincible you know. However, keep it, it is useful for you! What you have is a...' But Qui-Gon never got around to explaining the nature of Jack's glove.

Sam muttered something to him. 'Oh, yes, Fili, you'd better send him a message, Sam if you're device is working at the moment. Tell him to hurry to the ship. We might meet him there if we are lucky. Still, if he is looking for Commander Thrawn and we could well be involved in a life or death duel with a few Sith it's a bit of a toss-up of who is facing more danger.'

Jack and his companions left the Inn. Goran was coming with them at least for the moment. He had local knowledge that certainly could be useful. But Threepio was not. He said a cheerful farewell to R2 who beeped a bit in reply. But Qui-Gon was busy looking around for signs of Sith. At one point, Sam gave a cry and pointed out something in the road.

'Look at that body! Slain in the classic Sith method. They have obviously been asking questions!' Which was right. A few had been killed by the Sith as they asked for the whereabouts of the Jedi. The Sith showed no remorse about killing those they came across if it suited their purpose. Jack noticed that Sam was fingering his blaster more than usual. Jack had known by now that Sam was not your traditional kind of hero, but he apparently had encountered Sith in the past and was known not to like them.

On the way to the Adventurer there were signs of the Sith if one wanted to look for them. Many people were walking hastily or running towards them with looks of fear upon their faces. Jack could hear explosions in the distance and what were sounds of firefights in the direction of Liverpool. It seemed that the Sith had found the docking bay of the Adventurer.

Jack soon saw the Adventurer. They had come not a moment too soon. Several of the Sith including their leader Darth Maul, had gotten there first and a firefight was taken place. The place was surrounded by a power of evil that the local forces were unable to resist at least not for a while. Obi-Wan was at the entrance, heroically holding of them with his lightsaber but he seemed hard pressed to deal with so many.

Nine there were indeed, including Darth Maul the most powerful. As Jack reluctantly headed to the battle, he saw firstly Obi-wan get cut down. Not dead, but he had been stunned by a Sith spell and forced to retreat. Sam fired at them with considerably accuracy which at least got their attention. Several broke of their attack on the adventurer to hunt for the direction of the blaster bolts.

But Qui-Gon sighed. He slowly walked towards Darth Maul himself. He cut down imperviously a Sith that tried to stop him. He spoke to Darth Maul. 'Have I got your attention? I am the Jedi you are looking for. And I am telling you to depart from this planet and indeed from these worlds. Go to the Republic and take account for your crimes!'

But Darth Maul only snarled in reply. 'We Sith do not take orders from Jedi. We Sith kill Jedi. And their friends and cover the Universe in darkness. Now it is your turn. Prepare only for death!' But it was only Darth Maul out of the Sith that could seriously harm Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon slowly drew out his light-saber in a long light of red.

Jack and his other companions could only watch this duel. Actually so only could Darth Maul's servants. Maul raised his light-saber high and cut at Qui-Gon's head. Qui-Gon parried, then attacked with swipes of his own. Maul's light-saber did have a greater range and was longer than Qui-Gon's but it was more difficult to use. It glowed yellow.

The two blades clashed together as the combatants battled hard. Both jumped high over the other's head in order to gain advantage, though Jack couldn't help but think this move just cancelled each other out. Darth Maul hit the first blow. He swiped through Qui-Gon's defence and cutted the Jedi Master's check drawing blood. This was the first time he had seen real evidence of Qui-Gon's mortality so Jack became seriously worried.

But Qui-Gon was far from beaten. He whirled his blade and turned Darth Maul around in the strength of his next attack. He cut Darth Maul's chest deeply a wound that might well have been the decider against any other combatant. But Darth Maul snarled in greater fury. He was able to hurl a bolt of fire against Qui-Gon that singed the Jedi. In his next move, Qui-Gon sliced of Darth Maul's blade, his blade hand and all.

Almost reluctantly Qui-Gon moved in for the killing blow. But then the world stopped almost. Darth Maul raised his hand and chanted an evil incarnation. Jack could almost feel the horror of the words uttered. But then Maul exploded. As did anywhere within 5 metres of the Sith. Which included Qui-Gon. The flames light up his body as well and he exploded in flame and fire.

This was a suicide rite from Darth Maul. But it was effective in destroying his opponent as well. Actually Darth Maul wasn't dead, but he was out of action for the time. This was too much for Qui-Gon. Even for a top Jedi his body suffered too much. Jack heard a 'Noooooooo!' from the adventurer as Obi-Wan had recovered just in time to see the death of his teacher. Qui-Gon gave everyone a final smile, then he died.

Jack could scarcely belive that the old Jedi master had met his end. But there were still other Sith to take care off. Sam turned out to be good at this. He turned his blaster upon them and fired as often, but with care, that he could. 'Sith are a bit vulnerable to fire or at least they don't like it!' he had explained and was trying his best to create as much flames in this situation as he could.

This tactic worked, though Sam had to get very close and in considerable danger to the Sith to achieve this effectively. But many of the Sith cried out with their robes aflame and those few that were left retreated having had enough of this fight. 'Come, now is the time to leave!' cried he. There was nothing that could be done for Qui-Gon Jinn. Even his body had vanished in the traditional Jedi manner.

Jack was in tears as he boarded the Adventurer and it soared above Bushey's atmosphere. Everyone else was sad as well and showing their grief in different ways. Obi-wan was staring in sadness at the table. Goran had accompanied them as well as he was the only one present that had a clear idea of the next direction. So had Fili returned, his grim satisfaction at accomplishing his mission overshadowed by Qui-Gon's fall.

'What have you done?' Jack asked him as he brushed his tears away.

'Sorted out an old score!' growled Fili. 'One Commander Thrawn. I had encountered him a few years back. He killed a friend of mine, well, murdered would be more like and had even executed a child. I heard he was on this planet so I made of to encounter him to suggest that he stands for his crimes. He didn't take this kindly and pulled a blaster upon me. In the ensuing firefight, I was forced to slay him. I might have taken him prisoner, but then he asked for no quarter, so...'

'Oh, wouldn't that get us in trouble, I heard he's quite powerful!' said Sam

'Not necessarily. Although he does have some pull in the Government, he also has his enemies and is disliked by many. It's quite possible that those in authority will accept my reasons for his death. He is a wanted man on many worlds after all. Did I say man? He wasn't human, more some type of blue creature. He was also potentially quite dangerous. I don't think everyone appreciates this but he could have wrecked considerable havoc in the wrong place!' explained Fili justifying his action. He was correct as it happened and the slaying of Thrawn saved many a future war in the Galaxy. But that's for another occasion.

'Well, fair enough, though I must say we seem to be in trouble enough without any personal vendettas by anyone in this Company, I wouldn't go out on a limb unnecessarily!' shrugged Sam. But he pulled up his alien body and called Goran over to study some star-charts. Goran seemed to be the only one that knew the proper route from here on in without having to spend over a year on a more dangerous route over the Galactic plane.

Yes, Jack was a bit worried to hear that the next stage of the journey was very dangerous. In fact there were no real official maps for this part of the Galaxy it was so wild. Goran had had a look and had managed to plot a safe route, or what he had thought was a safe route, for the start, but even he admitted that from there it was anyone's guess as what was present. Jack looked out from one of the Adventurer's portholes. He was more than a bit concerned that now they were encountering one of the most dangerous stages of this very dangerous journey.


	6. Flies and Spiders

Journey through the Stars, Chapter 6

Flies and Spiders.

Part 6 of my re-write of the prequeals. After the sad death of Qui-Gon Jinn, Jack and his friends have to continue their quest without their leader. Now to get to their goal of Erebor, they have to pass through some wild Sectors cut off from any form of civilization. As always, I would greatly appreciate any feedback, good or concrit, thanks, Ham!

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOo-

Jack had heard that the actual travelling through space part of space travel could be dull but he wasn't really prepared for the experience of the next few weeks. Travel through this large sector was staggeringly slow and tedious. Long hops were impossible due to the unpredictable nature of the black holes and various other features of this Sector therefore Sam and Obi-Wan would not hear of taking them. So the Adventurer only travelled short distances and then the navigators of the party had to work out the next hop and often the ship had to travel very slowly to position itself for the safe route.

The trouble was that few civilized people had been in these sectors for many a generation and certainly no recent report had been given. The stars were strange and humanform planets few and far between. It was also dotted with recent star explosions which caused large clouds of black dust throughout the sector. If Jack looked out, he couldn't even see stars properly, much of the time, just black clouds.

Day after dull day passed. The party became cooped up, very grumpy and bad-tempered. Food had to be rationed, Dwalin was strict and Jack grew very bored. 'Seems I've left one dust-bowl of a planet simply to spend time in the backyard of space,' he moaned. The trouble was that no-one was quite sure were they were. Goran had provided some useful co-ordinates at the start, but now they were simply improvising.

Also there could be no contact with the outside Galaxy. The dust-clouds impeeded the Ship's aerial so the Galacticnet hub had no signal, also no phone could work, much to Sam and some of the others distress if not Jack's so much. The dust-clouds had the same effect upon the Radio so that wasn't working either, though at this time Radio was hard to listen to in deep-space anyway. Jack could get the occasional station in a foreign tongue for only a few moments before it turned to static again which in a way only increased his sense of isolation.

'I don't even know,' sighed Sam, 'If we are heading in the right direction. Our co-ordinates seem correct, but they can be mistaken. It is quite possible that we will find ourselves outside the Galactic plane not knowing were we are, isolated, full of dangers with our food having run out. That has happened around here before, which is why we are taken such care.'

Going back was also now impossible even if they felt like doing so. Flares from one of the many unstable stars had covered one of the exits at were the ship has passed. 'To go back we would have to go around and to were, we don't know we might well spend more time on doing that travelling the route we are taking,' Obi-Wan explained.

Sometimes, the black dust clouds grew really dense. This was the most common feature of this sector. Dust, dust, dust was all that Jack could see and had done so for hours. He had used up his one pint of ale per day he was allowed and was looking miserably at the cans of beer he had left, though no-one should be in this sector drunk! and out of the window in his cockpit all he could see was simply thick black smoke. Jack hadn't even been out of the Adventurer for a few days since they had found one moon that they could take some exercise in. 'This is space travel,' Jack was thinking. 'I'm so bored and fed up with this ship at the moment, I could just walk out the airlock.'

Very occasionally an eerie ship appeared in the black distance. They were unmarked, unknown and just travelled on by with no interest in the Adventurer. What people or creatures were on these ships none knew and as yet none were too eager to find out. There were strange rumours of what people did populate these sectors.

What was even more dangerous was that sometimes the ship did indicate some signs of life and sometimes Jack could see out of the viewing portal something move in the far distance. No one knew precisely what these creatures were, but they were not intelligent and certainly not friendly. Jack wasn't sure if it was his imagination but he thought he could see large maybe hairy tentacles coming from them and wrrigling as he looked out of one of the Adventurer's portholes. He was pleased that the Adventurer didn't stay to find out what type of creatures these were!

Jack was almost pleased when something happened even though it was a dramatic and dangerous event. Out of nowhere and unseen or detected by the Adventurer a comet passed by close to the Ship. This was close enough to cause it to backflip and the engines to nearly overload. Jack had to take part in the considerable amount of delicate work involved to bring the ship back under control. But even after doing so, there was an explosion a collapse in part of the stores and much of their stores was ejected into space before the fire was put out.

This made the matter of finding the exit to this sector and to arrive at some kind of civilizied world urgent. The food was simply not going to last. Jack and others were now getting very fed up with this stage of the journey. 'Why don't we just go on a couple of quick hops?' he had argued. But Sam and Obi-Wan still stood firm on the issue.

'No. If we take an unplanned hop in this sector there is no chance we'll make it through the dangers!'

'But if we don't find some food soon we won't be alive to care, Sam' cried Fili and Jack heartily agreed with him. And he had run out of his Beer supply totally. Surprising how brave Jack could get when the supply of alcohol was the subject. Goran was at the cockpit carefully flying the ship around one of the dangerous black holes to the left.

'We still have a Jedi, a powerful potential Jedi, and some mighty people with us,' said Sam.

But Jack thought that that even with his glove was rather useless in this situation.

'I think we should be coming to a planet soon if our calculations are correct. If we could just hang on for a little while. Though the planet itself does not have a pleasant reputation. It is a forest world and normally we should avoid it, but in these current circumstances...' Obi-Wan informed. This encouraged everyone a little. But this turned out to be false encouragement.

The next hop came and to Jack's dismay there was still nothing to be seen, save more space clouds. All the food had now run out except some few bits of rat and despite the Dwarves enthusiasum didn't fancy trying it yet even with rat sauce. Though that morning that wasn't even an issue. Jack had wondered over to the kitchen to fix a light in an attempt to cure his boredom, but he slipped, put out his foot and knocked over a plastic cartoon full of sauce.

The Dwarves were furious. 'That's our rat sauce, the best bit you've just ruined!' they cried to poor Jack.

'That's it!' cried nearly everyone. 'Food out, no civilized world to be seeing, we are lost in light-years after light-years of nasty, black, space dust! We have to make a quick hop or we'll never make it!' Reluctantly, Sam agreed seeing as how he could not go against the wishes of the entire party. So, everyone was put on full alert, the ship was on maximum shields and Sam and Goran plotted a ten light-year jump.

Sam put on of his claws on the light-jump button in the cockpit. 'Last chance to decline friends. I warn you that what we are about to attempt is extremely dangerous and unplanned. I shudder to think what we might find, even though we have tried our best to plot a safe route. Everyone still resolute?' Everyone was. 'Fine here we go!' Sam cried and pressed the switched. Outside, what few stars that could be seen became lines.

Jack was looking around nervously at Sam's comments. But for a while, this hop seemed quite like the others though naturally a little longer. He did feel a bang on the ship which could have been anything which made him jump but not more than that. Then with it's familair sag, the Adventurer dropped out of Hyperspace. Jack took a curious look out to see if there was a change of scenery. There was a moment of silence. 'I have a bad feeling about this,' muttered Sam.

'Well, let's see what we have,' Obi-Wan said. 'Good news,' he said with a little surprise in his voice. 'Indications are that there is a planet below us. The forest one that we were talking about now then, careful shields on max...' he suddenly barked as some radiation passed across the Adventurer causing it to buckle. Though the shields did hold.

Then there was another bang, a much nastier one. The Ship rocked and dust fell from it's ceiling. Jack saw it first through a cockpit. A giant Space-spider. The sight chilled his very blood. Jack had heard rumours of such monsters but had never expected to see one. A tentacle smashed one of the windows, though life-support was still operational. Obi-Wan gave out a terrible cry and pulled out his light-saber. The creature had, despite the Adventurer's shields landed onto it's hull and was large enough to give it a terrific shake.

Everyone went to battle stations. Space spiders prayed on ships and once captured, it's victims were skinned and blood sucked from their living bodies. 'We also have to be careful, sometimes these foul creatures have smaller ones in a pack that sneak into ships,' said Fili causing Jack to shiver. To reinforce Fili's words to Jack's horror many smaller but still large spiders crawled into the ship, one jumped upon R2 causing him to beep in fury and another jumped upon Goran attempting to bite the Wookiee. A tentacle smashed at one cockpit making it shatter and entered through, smashing anything before it and withering.

Obi-Wan jumped up with his light-saber and used his force powers to fight the creature as Jack noticed smaller, but still large and vicious spiders crept inside the ship through the engineering ventilation. The Dwarves fired and swipped at these. Goran picked up one and ripped it apart with his claws, but still several more scuttled in. Jack was beginning to think that going into a long hop was a big mistake!

The spider was so strong that despite Obi-Wan's force abilities, he was thrown back and knocked into oblivion by it's tentacles blows. Anakin seemed too young at the moment to be of much use and everyone had their hands full. Jack sighed. It was he that had an invisibility device, he supposed that he should use it, he thought with considerable reluctance.

So, he put on one of the spacesuits in the ship and slipped on his glove and unnoticed by anyone walked outside clinging onto the hull. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of Jack's life. Sure he was invisible, to the spider as well, he desperately hoped, but it's large tentacles were swiping at everything, the ship was shaking dreadfully, invisibility was of no use if he was thrown of the ship into deep space. Below him he could see a green planet but he was more concerned with immediate matters.

He wasn't sure if the creature was aware of him somehow. One or two of the littler ones did crawl on him, biting him, but what they made of it when he swatted them away, he didn't know. Summoning up all his courage he climbed as close to the spider as he could. He pointed his blaster at the mighty, eight-tentacled furry creature, many times his size, but fired his blaster many times at it.

The Spider withered it's legs and nearly fought back. Jack was wondering if his blaster would run out of power before he could kill the creature, or even if it's power would be effective upon it, but then it fell of the hull, curling up it's legs and fell down upon the forests of the world below, taking many of it's pack with it. Jack lay down upon the hull gasping in exhaustion. Using his last reserves of strength and emotions he clambered back inside the Adventurer.

As he saw, any remaining spiders had been killed or ejected. He could see blood flowing from a wound in Fili's neck were a spider had jumped upon the Dwarf and bitten him. Sam looked at him and cried with wonder, 'There you are! That must have been you outside firing that blaster. Astonishing you weren't killed and you destroyed that monster. I think you have pretty much saved our lives,' Sam was unaware of Jack's glove and his abilities.

Everyone gave Sam much praise. So much so that Jack decided to still keep the matter of his glove secret. But the ship itself was now in a bad way. The shields power was just about gone, it's engines were in desperate need of repair, and it's hull was considerably battered. There was no way of going into another hop now, even if people felt the desire to.

R2 gave a little analysis and a low mournful beep. 'We have little choice,' Dwalin had explained. 'We are going to have to go down to that planet to give us time to repair. Though on the other hand, after our recent experiences we should all be glad to get out of the ship for a while, no offence,' Dwalin patted the hull, 'Whatever the dangers that unknown world should bring.'

Jack noticed something on the dial. 'What's that? Ships on the way!'

Before anyone could react, some small ships came closer. One person fighter or escort class. There were several of them, armed. The Adventurer's guns had been damaged out of use, some spiders had crawled and bitten all over them, even if they were capable of fighting of such small and flexible ships. Everyone was too exhausted for a fight anyway.

An announcement blared over the radio. 'Unidentified vessel. You have passed into Aura space. You are not allowed to proceed any further until we have run a thorough check on you. Follow our guidance and land on our orders.' This sounded like trouble for the party. But there was no way of resisting as has been said, and so the party was forced to follow instructions and to land.

Some strange people met the party. They were black uniformed with slight helmets though Jack could see their faces. These folk had pointed ears and a slight green tinge to their skin. Still, Jack had decided to be safe and to nip his glove on so that he at least had some freedom in this situation. The rest were taken to the lord of the world.

Unfortunately the Lord and Sam had met before. And were not best of friends. It was a bit of a quarrel over a job Sam did and both claimed that the other owed money. In a conference hall were the lord of the Aurions was sitting on a large table, wearing a spartan uniform and looking across at the companions. Surrounding him were many of his guards and an impressive array of weapons as well as mugs, technological equipment and paper. So the meeting was of to a bad start already. The Lord squinted his alien eyes looked at Sam's reptilian figure and then gave a cry of, 'You!' in an unfriendly manner.

Sam responded the same, 'You!'

'You owe me money. Until you pay, you and your friends, fellow trespassers on our world will stay here.'

Sam replied with spirit, but perhaps little wisdom, 'I owe you nothing. We were unaware that your misbegotten realm was anyway near otherwise we would have avoided the place. I could ask you to let us go, but I know that you are not going to, so you can stick it!' Sam was quivering with rage and his companions naturally took his viewpoint.

'Well, you're not going anywhere. You have vexed me before and I don't trust your or your companions, Dwarves mainly I notice and an unofficial Jedi, no don't hold up your palm to me, up to no good on my borders I'll warrant. Why don't you just tell me what you are doing?' Relations between the Aurions and Dwarves were tetchy as well at times. No-one had the slightest intention of trusting the Aurion king on this point so no-one replied. The King sighed, 'Well, in that case, I'm just going to clap you all in jail,' and so he did.

Everyone was separated and put into single cells in the dungeons in a Cavern. All were incarcerated for a while, but none for now had the intention of saying what they were doing, they didn't trust the Aurian lord not to take a cut. The Adventurer was moored up on a bay but otherwise ignored which was useful later on. One person was not jailed. Jack. The Aurions couldn't see him with his glove. But he was at a bit of a loss as what to do next.

The Aurions weren't cruel people, apart from to Clones, and took a dim view towards many forms of piracy but they were wild and liked their own independence even isolation some might say. They didn't trust strangers easily and at war they could be bad and bitter enemies. So Jack and his friends were in a tight situation it could be said. But in the next chapter Jack did find a way to help and his clove proved very useful once again!


	7. The Aurions

Journey through the stars, Chapter 7 The Aurions

This is the 7th Chapter of my Star Wars prequeal tale. After a long and exhausting journey through intractable space the crew of the Adventurer have had a terrifying encounter with a space-spider and are now captured by the Aurions who have an unfortunate memory of Dwarves and of Sam and so are thrown into jail as trespassers apart from Jack who can use his glove to be invisible.

-OoOoOoOoOoOoO-

So, Jack was free. But there was little he thought he could do at the moment. All of his friends were jailed. Jack did manage to find out were they were been kept in two-person cells. This boosted morale as well as causing a few scratched heads as how Jack had managed this but was also mixed with the knowledge that there was little that Jack could do on his own. After a while, Jack took to leading a fleeting life invisible most of the time and thinking that, 'This must be the most wretched part of this entire wretched adventure.' He thought.

Jack was able to spend some time studying the Aurions, also known as Sindar to themselves. At least were interesting people. Although politically and perhaps diplomatically cut of there were a wide number of traders and other contact with this world, so there was quite a variety of creatures on this planet. Some of rather strange shapes and sizes. Some of the Aurions were green, some blue, some yellow, some black, some brown. The Aurions did speak basic, after a fashion, but many spoke a strange, local and ancient tongue of their own.

The Aurions base was a small part of the Planet. Most of it was dense, intractable forest and Jack could see the trees sometimes when he felt the urge to leave the base for a while just to take a look around. He thought he could see some dangerous creatures amongst the trees, Spiders maybe, so he didn't linger. The thought of his recent fight still haunted him and he could fell were one of the Spiders had bitten him. The wound was swelling and Jack didn't even know if it was poisonous or not.

Jack also found out were the Adventurer was been kept, but the Aurions did not do much space travel at the moment and their ships were plentiful. The poor old girl did have a battered look after all she had been through, but Jack was able at least to carry out some engine repairs so it could fly if necessary, though of course, Jack couldn't fly her by himself.

Jack wished there was some better way he could help his friends. He thought and thought, but no idea would come. He might be invisible, but there was no way all of his companions could open the locks on their cells and walk to the Adventurer unnoticed so that wasn't much help. None, save possibly Obi-Wan and he was in a very small minority felt like negotiating at least from their position of weakness.

Then one day there was a meteor alert. Oh, the chaos! The meteor alarm was pressed, and the entire base was put on red alert and all of the personnel had to report to the command center or stay indoors and everything was shut down and deserted as the problem was dealt with. It was hours before the base was back to normal and everyone was very jumpy in the meantime.

Jack looked at an alert sign which said, 'Only press in the case of an Emergency, 500 credits fine for improper use!' Now was he getting the beginnings of an idea? Yes, he thought he was. Jack carefully measured out the route between the cells and the Adventurer. Then he came to Obi-Wan's cells and told him his plan. Though at first he heard Obi-Wan talking to the guard and the guard replying,

'Look, I'm not going to open this door, so why suggest this to me in that persuasive manner, Jedi?'

Obi-Wan thought his plan risky, but went along with it.

Then at day when the base was quiet, these folk tended to prefer the night, and at a time agreed by everyone, Jack took a large hammer and smashed at the meteor alert alarm causing it to blare across the base. Jack almost smiled at the chaos he had created there was a small part of him that rather enjoyed doing this type of thing.

As before, the base's personnel all took cover. For a while, the cells were relatively unguarded. Therefore, Jack took out his blaster and shot at the locks holding his friends, releasing them. This took a few minutes as the cells were not all totally together. But everyone was free. 'We must be quick to get to our ship. It won't take these people too long to realise the alarm was false. And I don't have 500 credits to pay the fine!' joked he.

Obi-Wan did remember to do one thing. On the way, he came to one of the base's little computer plugins and spend a few moments making an adjustment. 'Knocked out the shields!' he explained which would give the Adventurer a clear journey on take off. The Base was relatively small compared to the rest of the planet so it didn't take long to get to the friendly familiar ship.

But there was one final but important obsticle. Some of the Aurions did manage to gather themselves to find them. A large patrol stood in the way. Obi-Wan could use his force powers to knock back a couple of them, but generally there was too many men in front. Jack was going to have to help once again. Also he was going to have to explain his Glove to his friends. Jack was a bit saddened by this, but there was no help for it.

'Look, I am going to disappear. I will draw those fighters of, with the minimum of casualties and you had better make for the ship. I will follow you if I can!' His friends were surprised, but Sam at least had some idea of what Jack was trying to do. Jack lead the Aurions a merry dance whilst the others headed for the ship. Jack made himself invisible and fired at the Aurions, gaining their attention.

They were jumpy already and someone they couldn't see firing at them was enough to cause a panic! Occasionally Jack would take his glove and wave at the Aurions crying, 'Your mothers can't bake apple pie!' or words to that effect! Although did take far more care on one matter than someone such as say Sam would have done. He was careful never to actually hit any of the Aurions with his shots. Jack knew that the Aurions weren't actually bad people so he didn't want to do something which would make this misunderstanding worse than it already was.

The Aurion guards were not been too wise in this situation, in fact they were behaving a little like some stupid Policemen! But this was an unusual situation for them. Once Jack was convinced that he had drawn enough of them off he slipped his glove back on and returned to the Adventurer which then took off into the Aurion sky. Seemingly having fooled the entire Aurion base.

Someone in the Aurion control room called their lord over. 'Look what we have here. It is that ship which we captured has taken off. Clearly our shields have been knocked out for the moment, but they do make a nice tempting shot for our planetary gunners. One hit could take it out. Shall I order to fire my lord?' The Adventurer was travelling in sight of the cross of one of the Aurions defence guns.

'Tempting, isn't it?' sighed the Lord of the Aurions. But he considered. There did seem to be slightly more to these people than had met the eye at first sight. Shooting them out of space might create more of an incident than was desirable. 'No, let them go if they are so desperate to leave! But there is little out there in that direction. Mostly the wilderness of Erebor. So, if they ever do try to come back in this direction, I might well have a word! Let them go!' and with that the Adventurer disappeared into lightspeed.

Obi-Wan jerked up from his chair as the Adventurer made the jump. 'Are you all right?' asked Sam.

'I just felt something. I'm not sure what it was.' he replied. 'But we are now on our way properly. Away from those really wild Sectors and know we now were we are finally not far from Erebor. Jack has managed to stock us up for which I am sure we are all grateful for and his freeing us. That glove was a bit of a surprise however, I think there is more to his lad than meets the eye!' and he gave Jack a strange look.

'Just one more stop I think to a colony of Bushey's in fact and then we are there.'

Jack expressed surprise that there were people from Bushey nearby.

'Yes there does seem to be a little colony. Perhaps they knew of some route through that Sector we weren't aware of. Still, one more hop and we are there! Finally after all of our trials. I think that is almost worth a little celebration!' grinned Obi-Wan. Erebor could now clearly be seen from the Adventurer. It was a yellow planet mostly of rock but with some vegetation and life-forms and two small moons.

'Yes, well don't go too far we might have more struggles yet!' growled Sam and he was right.

However after one stop at Bushey, the Adventurer journeyed over in less than a day to their final destination the former Dwarf world of Erebor. 'There we are!' said Dwalin waving to the screen and Jack saw it, a rocky world with two moons seemingly deserted but there were life-signs. But he found the sight nervy and foreboding more than comforting as the ship approached.


	8. Erebor and Count Dooku

Journey through the Stars, Chapter 8, Erebor

To recap. After weeks of travelling throughout the Galactic wild, Jack and his party have finally reached the ancient Dwarf planet of Erebor. Nothing is known about what is on the planet for sure but there is treasure and it is fairly certain that something is down there. The last few expeditions that have landed there have ended in disaster. The late Quo-Gon Jinn was keen that for strategic reasons the old Dwarf kingdom to be re-formed.

-oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

Erebor

The party were excited. Erebor, finally, after all of this travelling. Now, as the eldest in the group, Sam gave a few words of warning. 'Look, lets be cautious we are here, but we don't know what is down there. Signs of life, yes, but our computer cannot tell us if they are intelligent, or indeed, dangerous . Remember that the reports we have of this world are dangerous.' Jack agreed wholeheartedly.

Dwalin and Fili told the others once more about what they had remembered from that dreadful day when something, or somethings, and still to this day, people were not sure what, had descended upon their world. Unstoppable, with no warning, causing fire and death and forcing their people to flee their prosperous world. In recent years it had become a vast unpopulated desert, any that had tried to land had either died or been forced to flee very quickly and had seen nothing officially clearly though there were some terrible rumours. Though Sam pointed out that no Jedi had landed here in that time. There was still many buildings left from their old cities including sensors indicated vast treasure.

There were signs of life and advanced technology, but of what nature couldn't be shown for definite. The Adventurer's life indications weren't the best and as has been mentioned before the Adventurer had taken quite a battering all and all in the journey and not all of its systems were up to scratch. Some of the atmosphere of the planet was stormy and what was there couldn't be accurately seen.

Much to Jack amusement Sam's mobile phone had stopped working again. 'That was brief,' Jack commented as it had only just worked again for a few days since the dreadful journey through the wild sectors. Sam tapped and fiddled with his phone in annoyance. 'What's that system you have, the Dolphin network. I think it's popular with your people, fast but people have complained about it's reliability.'

'It's the Goldenlake network actually, but all part of the system. And for once and it pains me to say this, I agree with you, Jack perhaps I should take a more reliable one. These are so flashy. Do you know that the military in many planets use Goldenlake products? It's one of their advertising points,' Sam sighed then he and Jack separated for a while to look around the deserted streets of the town they were exploring.

Jack saw a building of note that seemed to be an old barn of some description. He took a little peck inside seeing it empty save a few rodents scuttling around. Jack could see the odd mouse. Odd thing, but mice were one creature that was abundant throughout the Galaxy. But he was drawn by a cave at the back, with further inspection seemed to be going underground. The day was getting gloomy and what little light there was became very dim. Jack heard a noise, was it Sam, but Jack couldn't see the reptillic creature.

What he could see was a metallic robot, obviously a robot though Jack could only see it for a moment. It looked at him and was armed so Jack slipped on his glove. The robot moved out on some kind of patrol. Jack curiosity was fired by the tunnel below. Jack tip-toed to it and saw something. A hint of gold. A golden cup it was indeed amongst other treasure. There was a chamber beyond.

It was more than a chamber Jack found as he walked to it. It was an entire underground system of tunnels with many computer terminals and some Robots patrolling. How much independent will these Robots had, Jack couldn't tell they seemed part of a system. As well as a hum of electronic pulse a soft, but scary voice was speaking in a strange tongue. Although he was invisible one Robot was looking straight at the entrance were Jack was. Could it see him? Either way, Jack was suddenly very nervous. He dived back up to the entrance, picked up the Golden cup from the trove, brushed his blue leather trousers and dashed back to the evening gloom.

He made his way back to the Adventurer. It was parked on the ground next to a group of little hills. Behind were some high snow-covered mountains that featured much in the legends of the Dwarves. Jack joined Obi-Wan, Sam, Goran and Dwalin sitting out in the open air eating supper. Food it seemed was plentiful on this planet so that at the least wasn't a problem. Goran was looking at his phone which at least was working but the news he had wasn't that good.

'More Clone movements but the Government is a bit paralyzed to do anything about it. Especially after last years attack upon the mill.' Goran was referring to a Bushey colony that had been devastatingly attacked by Pirates the previous year. 'That was just so sudden. All of the military defences malfunctioned, given a few pirates virtually free run, causing chaos and killing many. People still don't really know the cause and this makes moves outside Bushey unpopular. Most are staying or returning to our world, oh, hello Jack, you are visible!'

Jack breathlessly told them about this cup and what he had seen. He was again given much praise. And some information. It seemed that Gorran was familiar with the Robots Jack had seen. They were the same type as those that had recently given Bushey considerable trouble. 'Yes, there is obviously some kind of activity here. I think perhaps we should look further into that base.' Obi-Wan suggested.

Back in the Adventerur, no-one was too eager to volunteer for this given Jack's information. Indeed most suggested that it should be Jack who should take an extra scouting mission underground. 'After all, you must admit that you do have a very useful invisible glove!' Dwalin suggested, looking at Jack in what seemed a hopeful expression.

Jack sighed and threw up his hands. 'I'm quite happy to lend it to someone else!' but there were no takers. 'Oh, very well maybe it is my fate to do this. I do know the odd thing or two about computers I suppose. Will I be alone or is anyone coming with me?' It was a dangerous undertaking Jack was volunteering for. Though as it happened no more dangerous than what everyone else would soon be facing but more on that later.

Rather to his surprise Goran the half-wookiee did volunteer to accompany him. Jack wasn't sure how subtle Goran would be, but Jack was grateful for any companionship for this endeavour. So the next morning which had dawned warm and bright with a hint of rain later, he and Goran dived back down the tunnel where he had been the previous day.

Jack slipped on his glove right away and vanished out of sight. But Goran couldn't do it. Jack knew that he would need the Wookiee's technical expertise so he hoped Goran wouldn't be spotted. They journeyed far underground through a maze of tunnels. There was much treasure dotted around and some PC terminals. The first ones he came across were merely pointing to more useful ones. Goran suggested that possibly they could create some sabotage. A couple of guards were nearby blocking the way to PCs that accessed more of the base's network.

Jack stepped forward and threw a stone across the tunnel far away from him. The guards ran of too investigate this and with a wave of his hand he urged Goran on. Goran had to hide for the moment, but Jack could subtly log in to the base's network from an advanced terminal and look around the system. Which was called the Goldenlake network. Goldenlake, Goldenlake, that had a familiar ring to it were had he heard that phrase before? He thought but couldn't quite remember.

Still Jack was able to look at the base's data and chat quietly to Goran hiding under the desk. A servant passed by but didn't notice anything. 'Goran, does sabotage operations on Bushey's mill, destruction of defences, aiding pirates in the attacks, mean anything to you?' It certainly did. Goran took a look at the system as well and he growled at what the half-Wookiee saw.

They discovered that the Goldenlake network was been sabotaged from this base. Which had effected Sam's mobile phone. But more importantly against Bushey's military defenses. In the colony at the mill, the Bluwater system had sent radio waves from this base, to secret transmitters that knocked out the colony's hardware rendering it virtually helpless to pirate attacks. 'So that's how they did it!' growled Goran softly.

Goran and Jack had a quick little chat in the dark of the chamber. 'We ought to get a message to tell Bushey!'

'Yes, Goran, but I can possibly cancel the radio waves having access know to their system,' replied Jack.

Goran growled quietly but thoughtfully. 'We could even use it. I might be able to control those deadly waves. Hmmmm, I wonder what I could do?' Jack could see that Goran was planning something. 'Know might also be a good time for a counter-attack now we know their operations. I do as it happens know someone close to the Bushey Government. Close enough, anyway. A woman called Naomi. Now...

'So this is our thief,' said a voice behind him making Jack jump out of his skin. Still he was invisible, wasn't he? 'Useful little Old Dantoinne clock you have there. Fools most, especially my main servant, still doesn't take much to fool him. But I can see you, young man. But I could do with a chat.' An old man in a grey beard and black trousers and white shirt grabbed Jack's hand. 'I think you'd better come with me!'

Jack raised his hands and looked at his captor. He was old, but in good health and his eyes and pose radiated power. Jack was lead to a small but comfortable room with sofas, a drinks cabinet some TV screens on a wall and a small, white, furry feline creature that looked up and yowled at him. 'Who are you?' Jack asked the man as he was motioned to sit down.

'Good question. I am the one asking the questions and I am wondering what you and your friends outside, yes I know about them thank you, are doing in my world. Though some know me as Count Dooku, you may call me that! Maybe you would like a drink?' Jack took a little sip of some colourful but strong alcohol that was in a bottle opposite.

'So you're droids couldn't see me but you can?' asked Jack.

'Oh, them. They're Robots to be more accurate. They are not alive or even any kind of sentient. They have no minds of their own, they are just tools controlled by me via radio waves. A lot of my toys are like that. As your friends outside will shortly discover. I have remote-controlled air machines on the way to deal with them. I'd like to see how they handle those'

'Remote-controlled robots, remote-controlled ships, remote-controlled sabotage, you are found of your remote-control aren't you? Maybe this will backfire upon you,' thought Jack looking at Dooku stroking his white pet. But it seemed that for all his knowledge, Dooku didn't seem to be aware that Goran was at large or so Jack hoped. Perhaps he should try to keep Dooku's attention upon him. 'Don't be so sure we have past considerable trials to get here they might prove tougher than you think!'

'Maybe. In which case maybe I should interrogate you to find out what you know. What has bought you here?'

'Um, we've come to reclaim the Dwarves gold I think. Plus perhaps Quo-Gon Jinn the Jedi wanted to created some kind of stable environment in the galactic wild. Of which I have to say that you are not. In fact, not that I completely understand all of the stragetic ramifications, I believe your desert world is creating quite a void in the Galaxy.' Dooku looked at him thoughtfully.

Then Dooku laughed. 'Quo-Gon Jinn! I remember him! His skills are that of a baby compared to mine. I don't have to justify my actions to anyone. Maybe I just like been rich. The Dwarves gold, ha! It's my gold, I have claimed it and I dare anyone to challenge me. I think I have got all the information I need from you, though perhaps I should interrogate you with one of my truth drugs. That will tell me everything I need, though it does have the unfortunate side-effect of rotting your guts causing you to die an agonizing death over many days.' Jack's face whitened. 'Maybe that is an appropriate fate for one who has the check to steel one of my cups!' and Dooku's face suddenly turned angry, though he said this casually as though he had done this technique often. 'On the other hand, maybe I'll just execute you now!' Dooku declared and slowly switched a light-saber and approached Jack with evil menace. Time seemed to slow down for Jack and his mind took a moment to realize that Dooku had taken this decision.

'No, wait hold on!' cried Jack.

'Sorry son, the decision has been made!' Dooku slashed towards Jack with his yellow blade of flame. Jack backed away, but the old man moved quickly and easily in a manner that Jack recognized from Quo-Gon or Obi-Wan. Dooku gave a sadistic smile and swiped his lightsaber at Jack's neck. Jack began to say his prayers as he faced this death.

A while back outside on the Planet's surface, Obi-Wan was with Anakin and Sam. 'I wonder how Jack and Goran are faring,' he was saying when he thought he saw something. The day was dark, a bit rainy and windy but Obi-Wan thought he saw something solid in the clouds. 'Did you see anything?' he asked Sam and crained his neck and used his Jedi force skills to sense anything. He could see nothing but cloud and sky but his Jedi senses told him something was up.

'A bit of a shadow. I think it's nothing,' but just as Obi-Wan relaxed a terrifying sight hovered above them. It looked like a large, metallic dragon, but very large. It screamed in a artificial sound. It paused above Obi-Wan then started firing large bolts of fire down at them. The ground exploded, 'Duck,' cried Sam and took cover behind a rock. Though Obi-Wan noticed Anakin looking out paralyzed in fear and surrounded by fire.

Obi-Wan dived forward and covered the kid with is body. But now he was exposed. He wondered how his now dead Master might have coped in this situation. But he pulled out his lightsaber and tried to slash at the plane. It took all of his emerging Jedi powers to do this. Anakin was burnt and injured so unfortunately not of much use at the moment. Obi-Wan took a moment to sense were the engine of the machine, which he could tell was unmanned, was. He took aim, used the force and threw the light-saber at the plane's engine which caused it to explode in a bright flame of yellow and smoke as he ducked down to avoid the flames. This was a bit of dark-side power he had used, but whatever!

'So much for been safe out here,' growled Obi-Wan. 'I have a Jedi hunch. I think we should see to young Jack!' With that the party travelled back to the tunnel's entrance, through to the tunnel system, which seemed to be in some chaos and with Jedi guidance over to were Jack was facing death in the gloomy underground dark. Where they heard a loud scream.

Just as Jack expected death, Goran jumped down at Dooku from high. Goran had been doing a little Computer sabotage at Dooku's system, but he thought he should check up on Jack as he had saw Jack captured obviously and followed Dooku. And he had arrived just as Dooku was igniting his lightsaber. Goran wrestled Dooku's lightsaber from him, Goran been a powerful Wookie then elbowed Dooku in the face who fell down with a sickening crunch.

Faced with a large, angry Wookie, without his lightsaber and injured Dooku retreated. Right into Anakin who had recovered and seemingly recognized a lightsaber as a weapon of the Jedi, picked it up and sliced of Dooku's arm. Dooku yelped in pain and misery and retreated into the shadows. At the same time, the planets computer network blared out warning systems and shutdown.

Jack leaped for one of the keyboards. 'One moment, I'll just reverse the polarity of the neutron flow,' said he causing yet more and fatal sabotage. The entire planetary network ground to a halt. Dooku fled of the planet, hurt, to somewhere unknown but also of no influence. His robots and planes froze, and his very few servants surrendered. Using Goran's information way out in Bushey a few of it's forces recaptured some of there colonies they had lost recently. Victory it was and the treasure, a matter close to Sam's mind at least, free for the claiming. Seemingly.


	9. Standoff!

Journey through the Stars, Chapter 9, Standoff!

Jack and his friends have discovered that it was Count Dooku, largely by himself, that had invaded Erebor all those years ago and expelled the Dwarves. With the aid of his cloak, Jack helped defeat Dooku who disappears. His few servants are allowed to depart and for the moment the planet seems free for the Dwarves. at least so it seems.

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

Standoff!

The events in Erebor proved to be big news throughout the Galaxy. Maybe it would have been wiser for people to have tried to have kept events more secret, but it did come out quickly. Due to a combination of factors, Dwalin telling the country in the nearby world were many of the Dwarves had settled to. Sam texting some of his friends yelling, 'We did it, we did it!' The reasons behind the easy victory by Bushey over its former colonies. Or possibly Count Dooku himself had spread rumours.

Anyway, the news spread. It was heard by those in the cabinet of Palpatine in Bushey. Clones heard of it on the many planets under their control and used the information in their computerized decision making process. Many Pirates heard the news in their drinking dens and the news was so important that many even remained sober. The Aurions heard of it on their world. Yoda heard of it in his fleet and changed his exploratory direction. And paid a bit more attention to his fleets weaponry.

Jack had hoped to be going home had he had enough of Adventuring and the task appeared to have been done as far as he could tell. But no-one was returning with him, Sam might have been heading back soon, but he wanted to make a claim of the treasure first, and he coudn't pilot the Adventurer by himself. One thing Dwalin had said to everyone recently was, 'There is a special jewel. Called the Starstone. It comes from my house and it is unique in price. We Dwarves see it in our dreams. It's value is said to be greater than that of the rest of the treasure put together. This stone belongs to us Dwarves and we would put immeasurable price to get it back or inflict great hatred on any that tries to keep it from us!'

Jack had found whilst exploring the computer system that there were many more tunnels that the party hadn't covered. He did mention this but it took a while for everyone else to take his advice. So Jack took to looking for himself. One day he looked at Qui-Gon's key he had mentioned all that while ago and plugged into a computer. This bought results, giving him access to more secret areas. In one he found a Golden/White diamond stone that he could barely pick up. It fitted Dwalin's description and Jack thought this must be the Starstone Dwalin had mentioned. 'Well if everyone else is too lazy to look, I think I'll just look after this!' thought he to himself and so he hid it amongst his bedding. Though he did have a feeling that Dwalin would not be happy if he found out about this.

Matters soon took another turn. Sam ordered, 'I think we ought to switch the planetary defences back on,'

'Why?' asked Goran as the Wookiee fiddled with a golden bracelet.

'I have a bad feeling about this, that's why!' As it happened such was the strategic position of Erebor that even a few could put up a stiff defence against any conventional defender. And so it was that Jack saw some ships from Auria from his viewing portal. Many ships that set up positions on the planet's orbit. 'Uhoh,' said Sam. 'Here they come for the treasure. If they think we are just going to give it away, they have another think coming!' declared he. Dwalin and others were of a same mind.

Obi-Wan hesitated, 'They could be coming to negotiate!' he suggested.

'Like they did with our last encounter? I have no found memories of the Aurions!' said Fili.

So the Aurions did not find the planet deserted as they had thought. The Lord of the Aurions might well have been happy to have a chance to speak to Dwalin but someone else had other ideas. Following the Aurions was a fleet of Bushey ships with Palpatine in charge. Bushey had one some spectacular victories following the collapse of Count Dooku's forces and they did have some interests in Erebor having been once major trading partners at least and had suffered themselves at the hand of Count Dooku and his Pirate and Clone allies.

But Palpatine did have a rough style at times despite his popularity been given a major boost following his triumphs. He gave an ultimatum to Dwalin. 'We heard this planet was empty so we travelled here to investigate our legitimate claims to it's assets as we had in times past. Now we find it occupied. Happy as we are to find our allies alive, we intend to pursue our claims. I order you to stand down the planetary shields and let our ships land or...'

Jack saw a golden protocol droid C3PO hastily whisper something into Palpatine's ear. Later he found out that C3PO had said, 'Sir, remember that that is a Planet hard to occupy against an armed defence without us sustaining major casualties. Try not to do anything rash. You have been lucky the past few days, but we don't want to push it. Take your time and be subtle over this!'

'Very well, or you will face the consequences.' Palpatine frowned.

This uncompromising declaration had the effect of stiffening Dwalin's resolve. He replied, 'We are not under anyone's command but our own so you know were you can stick your orders. Also, you can stick your claims to the treasure in the same place. The treasure belongs to us now, we won it! Maybe later we can negotiate some arrangements, but not now under duress and with the presence of the Aurions whom I remember with little kindness.'

Jack and Obi-Wan looked up at Dwalin and Jack noticed a grim expression on his face he had never seen before. He tugged at Dwalin's arm but there didn't seem any moving him. Oddly, C-3PO tugged at Palpatine's arm in the same manner. Palpatine raised his hand. 'Fine, I declare this planet under siege. You may stay here until you rot. But you cannot leave and none may enter,'

Dwalin looked grim but made no reply. This destroyed any hopes Jack might have had to leave quickly. But Dwalin was stubborn despite having two navies on his doorstep. 'They cannot easily occupy this world with us here. As long as our defences are manned we can keep them out for a while. We can tire them out.' And he started to give directions for further defence.

'More like bore them out!' thought Jack. He didn't find the prospect of been in a siege a pleasant one.

But Sam and Fili and R2, if Droids can have opinions, were of like mind with Dwalin. Though Obi-Wan did suggest that 'We could negotiate perhaps. These people are going to be your neighbours be you in charge of treasure or no. It might not be the wisest move to make them your enemies,' but this advice did not change Dwalin's mind.

'Are there girls amongst the Navies above?' asked Jack who felt like he could do with some female company.

'Not many unfortunately for you and those that are will be in the medical ships at the back. The Navies are traditionally a male occupation in these nations and in fact some have argued that Palpatine has taken a sexist policy in this in keeping women out. And traditionally been a warrior is a male thing in the Aurions as well. Not that women don't have positions of power and influence they do in both peoples and have done heroic deeds just not in this case. If it comes to a fight we probably won't even kill many of there men though we might a few. We'll probably just get the mechanical ships mostly though this can still be devastating to them.' replied Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan and Sam had a blazing row over the situation. Initially Obi-Wan had wanted to negotiate but Sam wasn't listening. 'Look, this claim to this treasure isn't fixed you know. Many have had a hand in it's creation. Us taking such a stubborn action might well lead to war and death. That isn't what Qui-Gon had in mind when he set us out on this quest.'

'Who cares what Qui-Gon had in mind? Besides if this is your attitude I'm beginning to regret having dealings with such wizardry as yours? We have won this treasure, we suffered and went on a quest did we not? You can't say I don't need it, those generous people in the Republic won't even let me in without money you know. You can be such a goody, goody at times can't you?'

'So I care for the common good is that a bad thing?'

'This can be, this can be! Come on, self-interest is important to. We can sit out or withstand these people and I say that we do. Lets just... concentrate on the people we know. That's just about all we can do in this wild Galaxy. I certainly didn't go on this quest and risk my life just to give all of it's rewards away to some kind of charity. You can if you like!'

With these words, Obi-Wan was reluctantly convinced. But Jack was far from been so. He was greatly alarmed at the direction that events had taken and had no desire to make enemies of good people over simple gold. He became gloomy as the days of the siege went by. Dwalin had been a bit puzzled by the absence of the Starstone.

'That is a stone beyond any price that any can set to it. Do you know that the price of that single stone is worth more than some planets? It is indeed probably the most valuable piece of the entire hoard. I cannot believe that we cannot find it. Any who delivers it to me will be greatly rewarded!' No-one seemed to consider that Jack might have the jewel, obviously they trusted him that much. But this was an interesting statement and Jack wondered what use he could put his discovery of this jewel too.

'Even so we can't stay here besieged for ever!' cried the Wookiee, Goran.

'We can hold out for a time, years maybe!' Jack didn't fancy this idea. But Dwalin continued, 'Don't worry, I don't think we will have too. One thing these fine people don't know. I have been in contact with Thrain of my people in the nearby planets of the Iron system. We'll have a little fleet of Dwarven ships on the way soon. Then we'll see how these people negotiate!' Dwalin gave a smug smile. Dwalin might have been happy about this but Jack thought this might have made the situation worse with two groups of opposing fleets in the system over the disputed planet.

Palpatine's protocol droid was allowed down to the planet to negotiate. It seemed that no-one thought an honest if rather prissy protocol droid like See-Threepio could do much harm. Not that these negotiations came to much. Threepio had suggested, 'You should negotiate. You might be on the planet at the moment, but you must see that making enemies of your neighbours is no good policy. Do you know that Palpatine is seriously considering bombarding you with radiation bombs. How would you survive those?'

'Do not try to scare us. If he did this he would destroy most of the treasure as well!'

Though Jack thought that Palpatine might do this as a last-ditch option. His invisibility glove would be no defence against radiation dropping from the skies. One thing he did do was to have a talk with Palpatine's protocol droid who seemed to desire peace and see if both could pressure upon their respective leaders. 'This is a desperate situation. Your Dwarf is as stubborn as the Stars.'

'Your Palpatine isn't doing too bad either on that account!'

'Yes, I do agree. There are some of us close to him that are urging him to adopt a more peaceful stragety. But there are others that are not. I would prefer a peaceful resolution myself. I have seen situations like this become very nasty and bloody. I don't wish to see another here. And the addition of the Dwarf fleet will probably only complicate matters. And I have a sense that something else, something or things nasty are about to occur. But we can only see about this!'

Well, while C3PO was as prissy as any protocol droid, Jack did find it unusual to find an apparent automation been concerned and effected by loss of mortal life. And he was aware of the approaching Dwarf fleet. So much for Dwalin thinking that was secret! Jack replied, 'Will this situation inevitably lead to conflict do you think? I don't think a peaceful resolution impossible.'

'Maybe not, but a battle seems to be likely. There is a more aggressive party around Palpatine as well, though some of us are urging him to be cautious,' It was perhaps fortunate that Palpatine's chief Protocol droid was of a reasonable mind, and he might even have been the difference so far between Palpatine attacking and not doing so. However, C3PO and Jack shook hands and the droid went over to talk to his old friend R2.

Jack became more unhappy with this situation. He sat down in the same old barn which he had seen before. Some of the small mice scuttled around. This fitted in with his mood nicely! Jack was joined by Anakin. 'You look sad!' said the boy looking at Jack and sensing his mood. Jack put his arm around the young force-sensitive boy's shoulders.

'I don't want a battle!' he sighed.

'Ah, me and Obi-Wan can take out any number of nasty ships above, you see!' Anakin declared.

'Maybe,' Jack replied.

Jack decided to open up his heart and tell Goran about his discovery of the Starstone. Goran laughed. Wookiees in general are not that concerned by treasure or credits many in fact would rather have a meal or ale. He growled to Jack, 'The way things are going you could end up as the richest corpse in the Galaxy,' which Jack grimly agreed with.

Then there was a noise over the Tannoy. 'This'll be them!' cried Dwalin in joy and his kinsmen entered the system. But the Aurions and the Busheymen had no intention of letting the Dwarf fleet land on the planet. So there was a tense standoff between those on the planet, the Aurion/Bushey fleet besieging it and a Dwarf fleet behind them. All over the treasure.

Palpatine had put his fleet on red alert. He had urged the Lord of the Aurions to do likewise but the man refused. 'I really don't like this situation. I don't wish to start an intergalactic incident over mere gold. We have enough ships to beat them of if it comes to a fight, but there may well get messy. There are other Dwarf forces out there!' he said shaking his head.

Jack now took a hand. He said to Dwalin, 'I have something for you, but you owe me a big favour!'

'What?' growled Dwalin.

'How about the Starstone!' cried Jack dramatically and pulling the jewel from a blanket.

'Whence came you that?' shouted Dwalin in joy.

'Well, you remember that key of Quo-Gon's that everyone seems to have forgotten about? I analyzed it and it seems to have access to some old and secret chambers of treasure. One of which was this jewel. As my liege-lord, I bequeath the treasure to you. May you use it well!' Dwalin's face seemed to lighten and Jack looked at him hopefully.

Dwalin was delighted! He held up the jewel, looking at it's subtle but cunning colours. 'You are a cunning and clever companion of ours, maybe the finest amongst us. All right, I do owe you a favour. Just name it! Anything. I have some rings of great worth that can be yours.' He suggested, slapping the man from Tatooine on the back.

Jack smiled. This was possibly better than he had hoped for. 'Fine. Never mind any treasure. Lower the force-field. Let the Busheymen and Aurions in. Then let us negotiate the rights to the treasure and the system like reasonable and friendly people?' Someone laughed. Dwalin looked at Jack slowly with an odd expression on his face. He stroked his long, grey beard.

'I was right, you are cunning and clever,' he finally said slowly.

Fili then laughed loud and long and slapped Dwalin's shoulders. 'You must admit, he's got you there. You did say anything! and as an honourable Dwarf, everyone is watching you know, you must stick to your word!' Jack was wondering if Dwalin would, but finally the Dwarf-lord of Erebor threw up his Dwarven hands in agreement with Jack.

'Fine, you win. But I am keeping this stone and any treasure shared is coming out of your share and Goran's and Obi-wan's and Fili's.' As Dwalin had not appreciated Fili's laugh. But things for a while worked fine. Dwalin was true to his word and lowered the force-field. Some tentative agreements were reached and things for a while looked promising.

Then suddenly See-Threepio gave a loud, panicky cry. Even for him this sounded dramatic and everyone looked up. Some ships appeared on the viewing-screen. 'Alas, alas!' cried he raising his golden arms. 'It has come as I feared. Dread is upon you all! The Clones are here with their Pirate allies. Alas a mighty fleet has been prepared from their systems. They see the strategic importance of this planet as well!' The sky clouded with Clone ships and bombs dropped onto the planet making the ground shake. Everyone looked up and some of the Aurions cried out in shrill voices.


	10. Attack of the Clones, again!

Journey through the Stars, final chapter, Attack of the Clones, again!

At the end of their journey and having defeated Count Dooku, the treasure of Erebor has been the subject of a quarrel between various people. Despite the restraining influence of droids like See-Threepio, it is only the intervention of Jack that seems to prevent a battle. However, just as matters are settling down, a large fleet of Clones and Pirates arrived to take the treasure, the planet and to destroy any other people there...

Attack of the Clones, again

A large fleet of Clones had entered the Erebor system. Lead by Darth Maul and supported by Pirate vessels. Darth Maul gave an uncompromising message to the defenders. 'Surrender and be prepared for intense interrogation or we will destroy you!' By intense interrogation he meant a similar treatment to that which all Clone prisoners received like the one which the companions nearly suffered earlier in this tale. Quo-Gin hadn't managed to slay him, he just put the Sith lord out of action for a while at the cost of his life.

The Pirate Captain, the infamous Captain Bloodscar gave a more blunt message to them, 'You're going to get your friking heads chopped off! he cried in a more violent twist to the usual chant. But he meant it and this was in keeping with the normal punishment those that fell foul of most pirates received. He finished a bottle of bear and smashed it at the screen.

'See that ship in the middle of the Clones? That's Darth Maul that is! We always knew of some connection between him and the Clones, now we see of him in command of the fleet. That means there will be considerable Dark force power in them!' declared Sam, pointing to a large ship. Some of the Clone main battle ships were very large, many times larger than the largest ship Jack had seen a Corvellian Corvette.

The first Clone ships attacked the planet, dropping bombs. Coincidentally, Clones are a male only species. They were originally men but the old Clone masters found an ancient way of quickly reproducing one man. So, in a rather sexist move the Clone masters considered women to be a weakness and all of the subsequent Clones were male. This means of reproduction was quick but had the effect of removing any kind thoughts of kindness or humanity from them hence their fearsome reputation.

The Pirates were mostly male or non-human some of the leaders were men, but these Pirates didn't consider women worthy of crew membership. Which was quite a relief for women, really! This might even have been bad tactics for the Pirates but their leaders like Captain Bloodscar weren't always renowned for been logical! In fact the only place he liked to see women was at brothels!

There was still time for the defenders to make some kind of tactics. Though it was fortunate that everyone was down on the planet as there was just enough time to enhance the planetary shields to stop the Clone bombs dropping on it giving the defenders at least a kind of base. The Aurions stuck first at the Clones, several hundred ships wedging through the Clone lines firing at every Clone ship they saw.

Ships on all sides exploded in balls of flame, many beings ending their lives in the flames of fire. But the assault by the Aurions on the Clones succeeded after a fashion, forcing the Clones to retreat to the edge of Erebor's system. They were supported by a charge of the ships of Busheymen and Dwarves, Palpatine personally well at the back, though the Clones still managed to make some hits at his ship.

Jack was with Sam, Obi-Wan and R2 in the Adventurer. Dwalin and Fili were in a lead Dwarven ship elsewhere in the battle. Obi-Wan was using the force to make the ship travel many times faster than it might otherwise have done and it took on one of the large Clone ships. Jack's eyes widened as he saw the monstrous vessel, as big as many skyscrapers.

But the Adventurer screamed past the Clones vessel's guns which shot just past it's hull. The Adventurer shot torpedoes at the enemy ship which at first seemed so ineffective against it's size, but Obi-Wan had put a force trick on some of the torpedoes as they exploded so they caused considerably more damage than they would otherwise have done. A part of the Clone ship exploded, causing a fire that spread and disabled the rest of it, the Adventurer screaming and rattling away and on to the next target.

'Won't be much left of this rabble of bolts at this rate,' growled Sam in the Adventurer's cockpit.

'If we win through you can have your choice of any other ship!' cried Obi-Wan in reply.

'Don't worry it'll stay together!' called Goran.

Some dust fell of the ceiling in a nasty bang. 'Baby, stay together!' Sam muttered patting the hull.

'Heh, heh, nice to see this ship finally go fast! Let's cause some more damage!' cried Anakin.

But not everyone was happy to see him, 'What are you doing here, kiddo?' yelled Sam.

Obi-Wan said, 'I thought we told you to remain on the planet?'

'Poof, I'm not staying down there when the battle of the century is taken place up here. Look, les go for Darth Maul!' Anakin explained and suggested pointing at a clone vessel nearby. But there was still a strong bodyguard of Clone destroyers in between. Also behind a whole barrage of ship fire prevented any retreat for the moment.

'We can't go back might as well keep him here!' Sam sighed.

Obi-Wan suggested hopefully, 'He could even be useful!'

Then an alarming message blared over the tannoy, 'More Ships. More Clone ships on the way! Thousands of them! Be wary of a stronger force heading here!' Jack looked out in alarm. More Clone reinforcements had arrived. It seemed that they had dealt with only the first wave of Clones. This new force was stronger than anything the defenders possessed. Victory now vanished from hope. The Clones and Pirates pressed the defending fleet closer to the planet and picked ships off.

Jack's eyes widened as Darth Maul's flagship loomed opposite the Adventurer. Darth Maul seemed to sense Jedi's presence and the Adventurer was targeted and shot after shot exploded upon the vessel's hull. The hull was a bit battered in any case and a torpedo exploded a large part of it. The shields kept life support in, but the inside of the ship could be seen by the enemy. The odd blaster bolt did enter the ship. Jack could see the eyes of the Clones in the enemy ship so very close. Jack wasn't sure if the attacker were actually firing at the crew individually but instinctively he put on his glove and vanished from sight.

The Adventurer flew alongside Darth Maul. It was as close to his ship as one can be in a space battle. Only a few hundred metres separated the two vessels. They exchanged fire and the Adventurer shook in explosions. The shields kept going down. Unfortunately for Obi-Wan, Darth Maul used force power of his own to adapt his ships weapons which were more than a match for the young Jedi.

Then yet another explosion rocked the ship and some of the ceiling collapsed, close to were the Jedi's Obi-Wan and Anakin were. A beam hit Obi-Wan straight between the eyes knocking him senseless adding to the general despair in Jack's mind. It would only be a matter of time before the defeat, he was thinking looking out at the debry in the space of exploding and destroyed ships with the others retreating in desperation before the mighty Clone fleet.

The Adventurer shock to an explosion outside the hull. This one threw Jack across the ship and banged his head on the wall. It also knocked Sam to the floor. The last thing Jack heard as he passed out was a message, 'Hello, defenders of Erebor! This is Yoda head of the Republic fleet. Do you require assistance, over?' but had he imagined it? Then he passed into oblivion.

Later Jack woke up. He was still on the Adventurer, but it seemed to have moved back to Erebor's surface. He got up, groaned and looked out. The Ship was empty, but outside a few ships were milling about and were of the defenders. He could also see a few people of Bushey walking around nursing injuries, but not looking too unhappy or desperately defending. So, it seemed to be victory. But how, Jack wasn't sure.

Jack had missed the final stages of the battle whilst he was out cold. But later he had learned that Yoda and his forces from the Republic had reinforced the fleet and together they had managed to push the Clones back. But the Clone fleet was still mighty. It was Anakin that had finally tipped the balance. He had flown the Adventurer right besides Darth Maul's ship. Using the Force to be almost invulnerable to any attack, he had sensed were Darth Maul was and send fires of wrath towards him. Darth Maul was slain and with that the Clones had had enough and the fleet was taken on all sides and broken.

Yoda also had with him quite a number of fully trained Jedi. These force-sensitive people could make quite a difference in a space-battle situation like this one and they headed around to fight the major ships of the Clones. Though Darth Maul had even proved too strong for them and it took the young boy Anakin to make the difference at the end. After Anakin had overwhelmed Darth Maul, R2 found a command panel to many Clones and was able to order a lot of them to surrender which they had no choice but to obey.

Only a very few Clones or Pirates had survived the massacre. Those that had fled and did no damage to the Galaxy for long years hereafter. Jack groggily got himself up and took a look around the Planet. He made his way to the control room were he was seized by Palpatine, 'It's Jack isn't it, that young man that was Dwalin's servant? You are wanted, come this way!'

'Were are you?' asked Fili and Jack realized he was still wearing his glove so swiftly removed it. He was taken to Dwalin. The Dwarf was lying on the floor, his body bleeding from many wounds. Dwalin was dying. Jack rushed towards Dwalin and embraced him. A little to Jack's relief the embrace was returned but Dwalin lacked his old Dwarven strength.

'Ah, Jack!' coughed Dwalin. 'Before I depart this life, I would just like to thank and congratulate you!'

'What in the Galaxy for?' replied Jack,

'Don't be modest, you know only too well! Without you, this quest would have failed on many an occasion. Plus you did manage through your cunning which you do possess to put us all on the correct road. Though a battle did happen obviously. Anyway, good or ill, I must leave this Galaxy now and join with my fathers. Farewell, my brave young man!' and with that Dwalin died.

Jack was a bit upset and shed tears. Though it was only later that a thought occurred to him. How was it that Palpatine had seen him whilst he was wearing his invisibility glove? Oh, well, those political leaders can perform miracles at times, he supposed! The rest of his companions had survived though many others in the fleet had sadly perished, Man, Aurion, Dwarf or Republic citizen.

Sam was probably hurt the most. He had been caught up in an explosion on the Adventurer and survived considerable damage to his body. Medical practices were advanced, fortunately and he would be cured, but for a time he would suffer much physical pain to go with the gold he had won. Only Sam could decide if such a bargain was worth it.

There was now no argument that the treasure of Erebor would be divided up amongst those that had earned it and many had. The companions of the original quest had waved much of their rights though they had received a considerable amount anyway, Jack had only accepted a relatively modest sum, though enough to keep him comfortable for the rest of his life. He wasn't been totally altruistic about this, he was just wise enough to know that great wealth does not always great happiness bring.

The old nation of Erebor was restored, Thrain was the leader for the moment but many men of Bushey reallocated over to Erebor and the foundations of a fine nation was beginning. Fili remained there, but Obi-Wan and Anakin were going to the Republic with Yoda. Yoda had taken an interest in the spectacular force abilities of Anakin, 'Stronger than many his age, hmmmm!' the little green alien had said and Obi-Wan was going to the Jedi city on the Republic capital, Coruscant, as well. The Clones were well-nigh all destroyed, Dooku had vanished by all accounts but was a wanted man, and the Pirates were captured, dead, or scattered and of less influence in a more stable Galaxy.

But it was time for Jack to return home and on the Adventurer with Obi-Wan, Sam, Anakin, Goran and R2, went back, back all the way throughout the Galaxy, way back to the system next to Tantooine, bade farewell to his remaining friends who went to the Republic and made it back home. He kept his magic glove but used it rarely, which, coincidentally, wasn't an ancient heirloom with magical powers wanted by a lord of evil to conquer the Galaxy with it was just something to make one invisible! And took up his life in Tantooine again for now.

The entire adventure, though dramatic had in fact only taken up around 6 months. Once he had gotten home, Jack soon returned to his life again though he was perhaps wealthier and had plans to move to the Republic at least for a while to visit. But then Tantooine was home for him so maybe he would always find his way back to the dustbowl as some of it's exiles said.

6 months time as Jack was thinking of writing down his experiences he heard a ring on his doorbell. To his delight it was Sam and Obi-Wan that had come in to visit. 'Come in, come in!' Jack scampered, 'Tea? Or I might have something more substantial knowing your tastes!' It was lunchtime. Jack noticed that Obi-Wan had grown a bit bigger and Sam still walked with a bit of a limp but had no less than 3 mobile phones with him. One of them was a holo one which was very expensive! 'Is that so you can ring yourself and find yourself engaged?' joked Jack.

'Anyway, how are things in the Galaxy?' Jack had of course heard things in the Galactic news, but first hand experiences was always helpful. Sam, it appeared had managed to now gain entry to the Republic but Obi-Wan had spend some more time around Erebor. To Jack's pleasure he had found that the news was mostly very good.

'The nation of Erebor has been restored and is growing,' said Obi-Wan, 'And I would like to offer you an apology of sorts. I think I took a bit of a wrong turn in that quarrel over the treasure we nearly had. Me as a Jedi and all should at least know of the value of negotiations before violence. It took a man like you to show me the way!' Jack did appreciate this.

'Would there have been a battle over the treasure of Erebor?' Jack asked.

'Hard to say for sure!' Obi-Wan replied. 'But one can say that there have been such situations on a smaller scale between species that have turned out very nasty. It certainly seems to me that many there were prepared for a fight, the situation was a powder-keg!' Many historians would later ask themselves the same question. No definite conclusion was found, but most of the subtle ones seemed to think that a battle was very likely to have happened and it was only the contribution of some that argued restraint such as Jack or See-Threepio that avoided it.

Indeed peace and prosperity in the wild had been growing. The Clones all but destroyed and the Pirates surrendered or changing their ways, the Republic had gained more influence. The dangerous signs of instability that had worried Qui-Gon had been eliminated, at a great personal cost to him of course, a new peace descended upon the wild and life was taken on a much healthier aspect for all in that part of the Galaxy . Really!

Some of the Clones had been captured though most had been programed not to surrender and it was found out that under different conditions it was possible for some Clones to have a more reasonable personality and to be reasonable people. But the Pirates that were active were virtually no more to every civilized person's relief.

'The only slight worry is that of Palpatine!' said Obi-Wan. 'Not everyone got on with him, but his popularity has rocketed. The pictures of Clone blasters firing at his ship was beamed all across Bushey.' Before the retaliation against Dooku, Palpatines approval rating stood at 30% a historically low figure. After the battle of Erebor, it rose to 80%+! His re-election as President of Bushey was a formality and he now had a place in the Republic Government due to a treaty with it.

Palpatine, Obi-Wan, and Anakin had done very well out of the events and were household names throughout the Galaxy. So to were Sam and possibly other warriors. One person whose deeds, at least the important ones, were mostly forgotten was Jack himself! Although he did have the respect of any that knew of the events who came by it was only a select few that remembered his real contributions.

But Jack didn't mind. He didn't seek out fame and fortune after all. Though he was thinking of moving out of Tatooine now. Alderaan sounded a nice place, it had been on the edge of the Republic and was vulnerable to Clone attacks but of course now that didn't matter! But he was only one person in the whole Galaxy as Sam had pointed out to him. But he took a swig from his drink and smiled at his friends. 'Actually, I'm quite pleased about that!' Jack said and all four laughed heartily in the warm Tantooine evening as the easy time ticked by.

THE END.


End file.
